


Stripped

by eversosweet



Category: One Direction (Band), Taylor Swift (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Cunnilingus, F/M, Oral Sex, Phone Sex, Stripper Harry, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 18:17:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 63,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4532325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eversosweet/pseuds/eversosweet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her whole life changed at a strip club. All Taylor wanted was to go to Vegas and celebrate her best friend's birthday with her. It was supposed to be a quick weekend trip with the girls until it ended up being more complicated than any of them ever expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Night Stand

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello all. If you've seen this fic before it's because I've already posted it up on Wattpad. (i'm happilyhaylor on Wattpad) I'm just reposting here with some minor editing and a little beefing up on the first few chapters. No major changes to the story. :)
> 
> Here is the list of characters and who each of them look like:  
> Taylor Swift as Taylor Swift  
> Harry Styles as Harry Styles  
> Sarah Hyland as Natalie Bradford  
> Jaime King as Cassidy Swift  
> Emma Stone as Ivy Graham  
> Karlie Kloss as Avery James  
> Niall Horan as Dan  
> Gigi Hadid as Rachel Gray  
> Zayn Malik as Trey Khan  
> Joe Jonas as Nick  
> Calvin Harris as Vaughn Ames

"Good morning," I heard a voice say next to me as I forced my eyes not to open. It's morning, but it's too early and I refuse to wake up just yet. Suddenly, memories of the night before came back to me and I realized who is sleeping next to me in my bed.

_Did he say his name was Dave? Or Don?  
_

I didn't plan on bringing a guy home with me last night after going to the bar with Natalie to celebrate her pre-birthday weekend trip. Then again, I also didn't plan on having so many guys buy us shots. Natalie insisted on her wearing the birthday girl sash and crown she got from some party store, which brought more attention to us than we normally got.

Most of the night was a blur, including my memory of who the stranger in my bed was. I sighed deeply before eventually opening my eyes and turning around to my other side to take a look at my latest one night stand.

"Hi," he said with a huge grin on his face. His short blond hair was tousled almost perfectly as if he ran to the closest mirror to fix himself up before I woke up. He was awfully chipper at such an ungodly hour. 

"Hi," I greeted him back as I pulled my comforter up closer to my chest. "Uh, Dave, right?"

The expression on his lips went from an upbeat grin to a frown. "Dan. My name's Dan," he corrected me. As he spoke, I caught the Irish accent in his voice, probably one of the reasons why I happened to take him home with me. I'm a sucker for foreign accents.

It didn't take more than a few seconds before he tried to lean in towards me as if I didn't just offend him by forgetting his name. Instinctively, I pulled away from his eager attempt to kiss me.

"Shit, I'm so sorry," I said halfheartedly as I looked into his blue eyes that reminded me of a little puppy dog's. They looked different from the dark and lustful look in his eyes that he had when I brought him up to my apartment the night before.

"I have a flight to catch," I blurted out as I broke our eye contact so I could search for my cell phone, silently hoping he would take the hint and start heading out the door. 

Reaching for my phone on my nightstand table, I checked the time to make sure I wasn't late to meet the rest of the girls at the airport. Natalie was finally 21 and for the past year, she had been planning a huge weekend blowout in Vegas to celebrate. For being the last one in our group of friends to turn 21, she has been more than eager to legally drink and gamble and she wanted to take full advantage of it.

"I guess I should just go then...," I heard him mumble as he started to get himself out of my bed. I lifted my head back up to look at him and I can already tell from the look on his face that he wasn't planning on leaving so soon.

I hate when the guys I bring home expect us to start dating just because we had sex.

"Dan," I finally said his actual name as I watched him pull his jeans up. "Last night was fun," I told him, hoping that would boost his ego a little bit. The sex wasn't as mindblowing as I hoped but he wasn't bad, either. I studied his face for a moment while he finished buttoning up his now wrinkled shirt. He's actually really good-looking and from the way he's treating me right now, it seems like he's a sweet guy. At least he's not rushing out of here with a lame excuse. That's something that I usually do.

"Yeah, I had fun, too," he responded with a gracious smile on his face and walked over to my dresser. He started writing something on a pad of post-its. Peeling off the post-it, he walked over to me as I continued to lay in my bed, still holding up my comforter to keep my naked body from being exposed in the light of day. He's had his chance to memorize what it looks like underneath the covers. "Call me if you ever wanna get dinner sometime, or you know, do this again," he smirked, pointing at my bed and placing the post it on my nightstand.

I gave him a genuine smile and nod as he made his way out of my bedroom. As I heard my apartment door shut close, I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my messy disheveled hair. There's so much that I still have to get done before leaving for this trip. I put my attention back to my cell phone and swipe through all the texts I received from my friends throughout the night and this morning.

I chuckled at some of the messages I received from the girls before I landed on a text from my boss at Smith & Scott, the PR firm I work for in downtown Manhattan.

*Before you leave for the weekend, please make sure you send Mr. Scott the rundown of next week's meetings.*

I rolled my eyes at the text and pulled out the drawer in my nightstand to take out my Macbook. Last night, I was dragged out of my apartment by the girls as I tried to finish up my work so I hoped that nobody would notice me sending it out in the morning instead of late last night.

Once I finished up and emailed my boss and my boss' boss with next week's schedule, I pulled myself out of bed and started getting ready to leave for the airport. Luckily, I had my bags packed days ago in preparation for this trip. Natalie was adamant about our outfits being, as she described them, 'hot as fuck'. I filled my suitcase with my shortest dresses and highest heels. Even though I stood at 5 foot 10, there was no way I was going to Vegas without my stilettos. Of course, the fitness nut that I am, I packed a pair of Nikes in there, too, hoping to get a few runs in between all the debauchery.

When I'm finally ready to go, dressed in my comfortable jeans, floral tank top, and black flats, I picked up my phone to set up a ride to JFK airport from Uber. My excitement for the weekend has finally caught up with me as I dragged my suitcase through the halls of my apartment building. I'm eager to finally get this trip started. A wicked grin grew on my face as my phone lit up with Natalie's picture on the screen.

"Hey, I'm on my way to the airport," I answered her call immediately. "I wanna hear all about the guy you brought home first," I responded to her after she asks about my night with the sweet blonde named Dan.

 


	2. Check-In

The flight to Las Vegas felt a lot shorter than it actually was. Several rounds of champagne will do that to you. Before this trip even started, I promised Natalie that there wouldn't be any sober moments during this trip. If we're going to Las Vegas for my best friend's twenty-first birthday, then we're going to spend the whole time with a good and happy buzz.

As the plane landed on the tarmac, I swiped through the checklist Natalie sent me weeks ago.

'NATALIE'S 21ST VEGAS BIRTHDAY BLOWOUT' checklist:

Gigantic party suite.

Yard long margaritas.

Night clubs.

Cirque du Soleil.

Gun range.

Strip clubs.

Lap dance.

I snickered to myself at the last one. This was definitely doable. I already had a list of strip clubs to choose from, mostly the ones that had both male and female strippers, even though Natalie didn't have a preference of which gender as long as she had a hot body grinding on her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Las Vegas, Nevada. The weather is currently 82 degrees..." the pilot started his welcome speech as the plane taxied to its designated gate.

I looked over at the girls, all of us looking at each other with stupid grins on our faces, preparing for what was going to be one hell of a weekend.

"Alright girls, I don't want to sound like a cliché," Avery began, downing the last sip of her fifth glass of champagne, "but what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

I rolled my eyes at her and chuckled at her use of the common slogan spoken way too often every time anyone went to Las Vegas.

"Come on, you know for damn sure that's not gonna happen, especially when you yourself snap your entire life on Snapchat for everyone to see," I teased her, earning a laugh from all three of them. I doubt that she's serious. It's two thousand fucking fifteen, nothing stays hidden anymore.

"No, I'm not fucking around," she replied just as the ding sounded alerting everyone that it was safe to take off our seatbelts and make our way towards the exit. "We're going to be doing some fucking sick shit in the next few days, I do not want my mother to hear about any of it," she explained with a serious look on her face. I couldn't help but laugh even though she continued to glare at me.

Sighing, I gave her a comforting smile. "Fine, we'll keep as much as we can to ourselves. If anything crazy happens like someone getting arrested or running naked through the city, no one else will have to know," I promised her while trying not to laugh. I looked over at Natalie and shook my head at her. "We're gonna get you fucked up," I finished before finishing my fifth or sixth glass of champagne. I lost count.

Moments later, after getting off the plane and collecting all of the luggage, we managed to hail a cab to take us to our hotel. Thanks again to the champagne, I was more buzzed than I expected to be the morning of our arrival into Las Vegas. Before I knew it, we were already in the hotel lobby waiting in line to check in.

"The suite is under the name Swift," I heard Natalie say my name and I turned my attention to her and the woman at the counter.

"Me, that's me. Swift. Taylor Swift," I interrupted with a grin on my face. "Check us in, please," I chirped as I hear a few giggles from the other girls who were just as buzzed as I was.

"Ms. Swift, I just need to see your credit card and drivers license and you'll be all set," the lady said to me but kept looking back at Natalie who was the most sober one in the group. I glared at her and made a mental note to make sure she'd be more drunk than all of us by the end of the day. It was her 21st birthday after all.

I handed my credit card and license to the lady so she could check us in to the room. She continued to talk further about the hotel and all the amenities that I was not sober enough to catch completely.

"Here are your room keys and the bellboy will take all your luggage up to your room," she finished her spiel as she handed me the room keys. I wasn't paying much attention when all of a sudden a guy in a uniform with dark, curly brown hair and piercing green eyes started to put our bags onto a luggage cart. 

"Well, you're cute," I spoke loudly, making sure he'd hear over the chatter in the lobby. Avery pulled at my arm while I watched the green eyed bellboy flash a smile and I knew he heard me. I attempted to get closer to him, but Avery was stronger than I was.

"C'mon, Taylor, we're going to get some more drinks and play roulette. We'll go up to the room later, there will be plenty of other cute guys we'll find today," Avery said as she continued to lead me away from the lobby.

"Come find me later," I added with a wink before Green Eyes left my sight. Without a word, he went on his way towards the elevators to take our luggage to the hotel room. I almost didn't notice that my flirting with the bellhop earned a glare from the lady at the front desk but I just shrugged and followed the other girls towards the casino.


	3. Vegas Standard

"One more martini, please," I asked the cocktail waitress passing by as I kept my eyes focused on the blackjack table. The roulette table ended up being a very good idea and so far all the girls were up a few hundred dollars each. The utter thrill of winning makes me feel like I'm on cloud nine.

"Shit, it's almost five PM already, guys," Ivy alerted us, not taking her eyes off of her iPhone. I took a sip of my fresh martini that was set on the table a few seconds ago and nodded my head. It has already been a few hours of gambling and I knew that there was going to be more planned for the night. And yet we haven't even gotten to our rooms yet.

After playing our last hand, we walked towards our hotel room with plenty of casino chips in hand. My buzz has worn off, but there would be plenty more alcohol in our future, no doubt about that.

Natalie opened the doors to the suite with her key card and turned to the rest of us. "Let's all get ready to go to dinner and then-"

"And then the strip club!" Avery interrupted with a hint of glee in her voice. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she had one too many martinis at the blackjack table and I couldn't help but join in her excitement, even with myself being way more sober than her.

Before leaving for the trip, we all promised each other that even though we'd end up drinking the whole time, at least one girl had to be responsible for the rest at certain points. There was not going to be any babysitting but we also didn't want the whole trip to end up with us getting drunk in the suite and passing out. If we wanted to do that, we could've done it in New York. Natalie described it as being organized but drunk at the same time. Organized drunks.

While the other girls settled in by unpacking their suitcases, I walked into one of the rooms in the suite and let myself fall back onto the bed. For some reason, even after the long flight and the afternoon of drinking and gambling, I wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be.

"Please don't tell me you're going to sleep, the night hasn't even started yet, Tay," I heard Ivy's voice as she walked into my room and dropped a flyer onto the bed next to me. She was already in a bathrobe with her red hair in a messy bun.

"Fuck no, I'm just preparing myself, thinking about all the stupid shit that's gonna happen later," I said as I sat up and took the flyer into my hands. It read Hustler Club in neon with a picture of a few hot girls and hot guys wearing practically nothing.

"I found it on top of the room service menu. How about we go there? I think I remember seeing it on your list of strip clubs," Ivy added with a grin on her face before she headed towards the door. "I'm going to shower, let's not be late for our dinner reservation," she finished, reminding me that I made a reservation for a sushi restaurant that was set for an hour from now.

I didn't really have a preference for which places to go to for a strip club, but since this flyer was already here, I figured we might as well check it out. I did find it weird that the hotel would leave flyers for a strip club along with their room service menu, phone book, and bible, but maybe that's just the Vegas standard.

It took me about thirty minutes to take a shower, dry off, and do my hair and makeup before I start to go through my suitcase to decide which outfit to wear. Luckily I packed more than a week's worth of dresses even though the trip would only be for a few days. This is where my neurotic over-planning came in handy. I settled on a tight shiny silver dress that showed plenty of cleavage. I put on a pair of white stilettos and tucked the flyer for the club into my clutch before walking out to the living room to meet the girls.

Avery and Ivy were already waiting on the couch and stood up once I walked towards them. "Holy shit, Taylor, you're gonna kill some boys with those legs tonight," Avery said, dressed in a glittery black dress and six inch heels.

"Fuck, I could say the same thing to both of you," I replied as I looked over at Ivy in a white top and black mini-skirt, her red hair now in a sophisticated up-do. "Where's Nat?"

"You know Nat, always the last one ready," Ivy answered, rolling her eyes yet smiling at the same time.

"Hey, I can hear you bitches," Natalie yelled from her room. Finally, she walked out of her room laughing, knowing full well that she is always the one to blame for them being late to everything. The brunette was dressed in black sequin shorts and a silky pink halter top.

"It's your birthday, so we forgive you," I tell her as I give her a tight hug. With one look at each of the girls, I grinned at each of them. "We look fucking hot. Now let's get out of here and celebrate!"

The other girls cheered as we walked out of the suite and into the hallway. I was leading the way towards the elevators when out of nowhere, a large luggage cart turned the corner.

"Oh shit," I reacted quickly enough to get out of the way before I could get knocked out. Almost tripping over my own feet, Ivy managed to hold me steady and keep me from losing my balance.

"I'm so sorry," I heard from the other side of the luggage cart. The accent was foreign, maybe British? The girls and I walked around the cart. My attention shifted from being almost being rammed down to finding the bellhop that had helped us earlier. I couldn't forget the green eyes, though while I was a bit inebriated earlier, I had almost forgotten just how good looking this bellhop really was. It wasn't just his eyes and his hair that made him so attractive. His voice was deep and comforting while his cheeks showed a cute dimple when he smiled back at me apologetically.

"Are you okay, miss?" he asked me nervously, probably hoping that I wasn't going to report him to the hotel for not being careful enough around guests.

I smiled back at him as I heard Avery clear her throat and chuckle out loud. She knew what I was up to before I even did anything. I don't know why but she could always tell when I was about to make my move on a guy.

"If you wanna give me your number, then I'll definitely be okay," I answered him as I reached over and placed a finger on his name-tag. "Harry," I read his name out loud as I turned my gaze back into his eyes.

He smiled back at me and the dimples were almost enough for me to let him take me any way he wanted. 

"I do apologize, miss, but we're not allowed to fraternize with guests," he said in such a professional tone, though his eyes looked like they wanted to tell me something else. I wasn't taking my eyes of him and he was doing the same with mine. "But ladies, please have a lovely evening."

Again for the second time today, my arm was being pulled as I was being dragged away from the same guy.

"Fine, Mr. Harry, but you know where my room is if you change your mind," I winked at him for the second time today as I started to head for the elevators with Avery, Ivy and Natalie, but not before noticing a wicked looking grin on his face that seemed very different from the smile he gave me earlier in the hotel lobby. Once I saw this new smile, I had a feeling this wouldn't be the last I saw of the cute British bellhop.


	4. Hustle

"Taylor, you're gonna fuck that bellboy's brains out, aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes and pursed my lips at Natalie. My friends know me well. Too fucking well. When I set my sights on someone, I make it pretty obvious. I never did learn to hold anything back.

"You're being really rude while I'm over here trying to make your 21st birthday wild and crazy and fucking unforgettable," I said responding to her while trying to hold back a laugh. All the girls were laughing now and I shook my head and smiled. "We'll just have to wait and see."

We had finished dinner already at the sushi restaurant and yet we couldn't bring ourselves to get up from the table yet. There were too many jokes and stories going around that it was fun just sitting there with them just talking to each other. I was glad that we were still able to just sit and talk and be ourselves. It meant that we all still got each other and that our friendship would always mean something. Even though we liked to get drunk and party, that wasn't all our friendship was about.

"Okay, okay, enough playing around," I started, grabbing my champagne glass and lifting it up. "Natalie, I hope tonight's everything you were hoping for. Turning twenty-one is a pretty big deal and I'm thankful that you love us enough to let us celebrate it with you. You know we all love you. You deserve to get wild tonight, baby girl. To Natalie!"

"To Natalie!" Avery and Ivy joined in on the cheers and we finished our drinks with huge grins on our faces.

"Thank you, guys. It means a lot to have you all here. And thank you, Taylor, for making this all happen. I think it's time we go and party our asses off."

...............

"Second stop of the night!" I exclaimed as we entered the hotel's nightclub. "Let's see how many drinks we can get out of all the guys here."

"Tay, that sounds like a challenge," Avery questioned, her eyes danced around the room, searching for the first guy to dance with. Within moments, we were on the dance floor and Avery already had a guy hanging off of her.

Many, many drinks and two hours later, after dancing on the table counters and several champagne showers, we ended up stumbling out of the club arm in arm.

"Wherrrre to next?" Avery slurred her words causing me to giggle.

Ivy led us towards an empty couch and we all plopped down together. My vision was rather blurry and my hands were tingling as I rifled through my clutch for my phone. I felt a piece of paper and pulled it out but trying to read it was difficult. The words were all blended together and the picture was definitely moving.

I passed the piece of paper over to Ivy, hoping she had a better reading comprehension than I did at this state.

"Hustler Club?"

"Oh, the strip club!" I said loudly, clapping my hands at the idea.

"There's a phone number here... It says free limo ride pickup," Ivy continued to read the flyer.

"You read that vvvvvery good, Ive. You are not drunk enough," I frowned at her.

"I am drunk. You, my dear, are just way drunker."

"Can we gooooo please?" Avery interrupted as she forced herself up from the couch and grabbed my hands, attempting to pull me up. Ivy had her phone in her ear while she called for the free limo ride. It took a moment to force myself but eventually, I managed to get up on my feet. Ivy and Natalie followed suit and we were finally on our way.

...............

The limo dropped us off at the front entrance of the Hustler Club and we stepped out one by one. Once I was out of the limo, I attempted to look at my reflection in the limo's window. My short blonde hair was all in disarray, but I managed to fix it by running my fingers through my hair. That was probably the best part about cutting my hair off a few months ago, the low maintenance of having short hair. I took one last look down at my chest and pushed them up in an effort to accentuate my cleavage.

The alcohol has worn off a bit and it's a little easier to actually walk on my own without having to hold onto anyone.

Once we stepped into the club, you could tell exactly where we were. The air was hazy due to the overuse of the fog machine and the DJ was announcing the next dancer on stage. A hostess wearing a bikini top and a short skirt welcomed us immediately and asked us if we wanted to watch men or women. Although all of us happened to be straight, we were able to appreciate the female body. We let the birthday girl choose and her choice was to get the full Magic Mike experience.

We had to go up a set of stairs to get to the men's level and were seated at a booth directly in front of the stage. A shirtless waiter came by within moments of us sitting down and I got his attention right away. "One round of tequila, please. And I wanna make sure the brunette over here gets as many lap dances as possible," I said to the waiter with a smile and placed a hundred dollar bill in the hem of his pants.

The DJ started playing music and moments later, introduced the next dancer on stage. First was a blonde fireman, who made his way down to our booth and gave Natalie the lapdance she deserved. After each dancer came another round of tequila shots.

Lifeguard.

Shots.

Police officer with fuzzy handcuffs.

Shots.

Zookeeper with a pet snake.

Shots.

"Next up is our favorite Englishman, please welcome Prince Harry!"

The DJ started playing a Rolling Stones song and out came a man in a British Army uniform. My eyes went wide as he turned around and I recognized the dimples immediately. I start to think I was seeing things thanks to all the tequila but then I realized that the DJ announced his name as Prince Harry.

_Harry? That was the hot bellhop's name wasn't it?_

"Holy shit, Taylor!" I heard one of the girls say loudly but I couldn't tell which.

As the song continued, Harry started taking off more clothes piece by piece. I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was mesmerizing. When he was finally shirtless, he revealed his tattoo clad body. Birds on his chest. A butterfly on his abs. Ferns on his hips. A rose. A ship. There were so many, more than I could count. My eyes went even wider. His abs were defined and his arms were muscular. I didn't even realize I was biting down on my lower lip as he continued to dance to the music.

"Tay, do you realize he's been staring at you this whole time?" I heard Natalie point out to me. My mind was feeling fuzzy because I didn't even notice that I have been making eye contact with him the entire time he's been on stage. As he took his pants off, he grinned wide and then winked directly at me.

_Fuck. Me._


	5. Surprise

I was captivated by the show unfolding right in front of me. I licked my lips and leaned in further, resting my elbows on my knees. The way he was gazing at me while he danced and stripped, it was obvious what's happening. He's trying to seduce me. And it's working. It's fucking working. My tongue was salivating, desperately wanting to lick every single tattoo on his body.

All while I was inspecting every inch of him as he presented his routine, it was clear he was doing this display for me. I could feel him watching me with every move he made. He was practically naked on the stage, which was the whole point of the show. All that was left on his body was a gold thong, which didn't leave much for the imagination, and a pair of gold boots.

Just as the song ended, his eyes finally left mine as the crowd cheered him on for his stunning performance. He placed his palms together and gave a quick bow to the audience before walking back to the curtains.

The lights went dark again as more alcohol was placed on the table in front of us. I poured myself a shot, downing it immediately. I slammed the shot glass on the table and grabbed the neck of the bottle as I stood up. It felt a little wobbly getting up so fast, I had to hold on to Natalie's shoulder. Leaning down, I placed my mouth near her ear and cupped my lips to make sure she would hear me.

"Don't wait up for me, I'm gonna go find him," I whispered quickly, a light chuckle escaped from my mouth. Pulling back, I looked in her in the eyes and winked. I knew she figured out what I was up to when she rolled her eyes at me, yet I could see that she was grinning back at me.

With a bottle of Grey Goose in my hand, I strutted over to a side door that I figure should be a way backstage. He wants me to find him, I know that for sure. But I hope it's not going to be too hard, especially in my state. A burly looking man dressed in black with an earpiece on put up one of his hands as if to stop me from coming any closer to the door. It only took a flirty exchange between us before I managed to convince him to let me backstage.

After getting past the door, I was in a hallway with several doors. I'm way too drunk for this, so I hope all this effort makes it worth the trouble. I was about to peek my head into a few doorways of mostly empty dressing rooms. I landed on the second to last door, which was shut closed. He had to be back here somewhere. I raised my hand up to knock but before I could, the door flew open and standing before me was my tall, tattooed, British bellhop.

His hair was sticking to his skin from the sweat that came from dancing the way he did on stage. I was expecting to find him still in his gold thong and boots, but it seems that he had managed to put on a black t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants after walking offstage.

"I was hoping you'd come find me," he finally spoke up and I was pleased to hear his voice again.

"Well, you didn't really leave me with a choice," I answered back moving forward into the room and closing the door as he slowly took a few steps backward.

"What's with the bottle?"

I almost forgot that I was still holding onto a half filled bottle of vodka. Raising the bottle, I extended my arm out and offered the alcohol to him.

"I was thinking that you probably need to catch up with me. I've had quiiiite a few drinks already tonight," I replied sweetly.

He chuckled and took the bottle from me. I watched as he took a swig of alcohol.

"I wanted to come here and tell you just how much I enjoyed that performance you gave, Prince Harry," I informed him, slowly walking towards him until he was only a few inches away. He took another swig from the bottle before placing it down on the table beside him.

"You can just call me Harry," he said with a smirk. "And may I call you Taylor?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "How'd you know my name?"

"Heard one of your friends call you that this morning," he explained, shrugging his shoulders innocently. "Do you have to go back to your frie-"

I didn't let him finish answering his question. I didn't want to talk anymore. I just wanted to finally feel his lips and body against mine. I surprised him, that was for sure, but it didn't take long for him to pull himself together and reciprocate. I pushed him back against the door, never letting our lips separate. His hands were finally placed on my body, one hand in my hair and the other on my ass. His tongue was making soft and tender moves against mine at first, but it only took a moment until it got a little rougher. His mouth tasted like mint and vodka, which was a tasty combination.

My lips moved away from his lips and further down towards his neck. My hands reached for the hem of his black t-shirt and pulled it up over his head. My eyes met his gaze yet again and I gazed back. I dropped the shirt to the floor and gently dropped down to my knees, not breaking the eye-contact.

"I thought I'd show you..." I pulled his pants down further, revealing the lovely gold thong he was wearing on stage still on. "...just how much..." My hands reached for the gold thong and pulled it down along his legs and my expectations were right. His level of confidence matched what was underneath the gold thong.

I stroked him gently at first before I leaned in and ran my tongue along his hard length. With my hands placed against his abs, my mouth took him in entirely. I let my fingers trace along his skin, down to the laurels tattooed on his hips, and finally back down to wrap around his cock. I heard a quiet moan escape from his mouth and I looked up at him through my eyelashes and our eyes met again. His hair hung around his face and his hands were placed gently on my head as I continued lick and suck.

"Fuck," he breathed, saying it so quietly I almost didn't hear him. I felt him come into my mouth and I finished him off with a gentle kiss on his tip.

I stood up and placed my hands on his naked chest, my fingers running along his bird tattoos. His breathing was heavy for a moment as I leaned forward and placed a few soft kisses along his collarbone. Pulling away from him, I reached for the bottle of vodka on the table near us and gulped down a decent amount.

"What do you wanna do now?" He asked me as he reached for the bottle in my hands and finishing it off.

"I think we probably need some more alcohol?"

"Good idea, I know just where we can go..."

.............

It's morning now. I could only tell because the sunlight from outside was peeking in from the curtains, blinding me and forcing my eyes to shut closed again. My head felt like it was hit by a wrecking ball. I don't even know how much I drank last night.

I lifted the bed sheet over my head in an attempt to keep the sunlight from blinding me again. I was naked under the sheets, I figured that out right away from the feeling of the bed sheets against my entire body.

Next to me, though, was another naked body. He was sleeping on his side, his back facing me. His long curly hair was draped across his pillow. I sighed and pulled the bed sheet back down as my eyes adjusted to the light again. I could tell that we were back in my hotel room. How we got here, I really had no idea. I couldn't even remember what happened the night before. The last thing I remember was giving the stripper a sensational blowjob.

I smiled as I remembered the dance he gave on stage at the strip club. Slowly, I reached my hand closer to his face and lightly moved a strand of hair from his face, causing him to move in his sleep. A ray of light reflected against my left hand and I noticed a ring on my ring finger. I didn't have a ring on last night, I know that for sure. I never put rings on my left ring finger.

My mind was calm for just a moment until I caught the left hand of the stripper in my bed. That was the moment I panicked. There was a ring on his left ring finger, too.


	6. Hangover

This could not have happened. There's no way we were that drunk. And even if we were hammered, they don't let you get married when you're that drunk, right? This has got to be some kind of sick joke. Either Avery or Natalie decided it'd be funny to put rings on our fingers while we were sleeping. That had to be the what happened.

I hopped off the bed and grabbed the bathrobe that was hanging on the chair next to the bed. As I put the bathrobe on, I took another glance at the man in my bed sleeping peacefully, quietly snoring. I smiled to myself for a second before I realized what I was reacting to. What the hell is wrong with me right now?

My focus went back to finding my so-called best friends to tell them how funny their joke was. I gently opened the door of my room and stepped into the living space of the suite. Nobody was around and it was just as quiet as my room was. They had to be around here somewhere. I checked each of their bedrooms and found that their beds were all still made. Did they not return back yet?

Frustrated, I retreated back to my room and closed the door. Immediately, I shuffled around looking for my phone. My phone ended up being on the floor in between my dress and his clothes from the night before. The phone lit up and my eyes widened at the number of text messages I received.

 **Ivy:** we're outta here, have fun with the bellboy ;)

 **Avery:** we found some hot aussies, ur missing out!

 **Natalie:** hahaha ended up in the penthouse with some aussies.... where r u?

 **Ivy:** haven't made it back yet, hope ur still alive

I didn't finish reading the rest of the messages they sent, but they definitely didn't make it back here in time to play some stupid joke on me.

I went and looked through my phone to see if I had sent any messages to them during the night and didn't find any. There were however, some interesting, and mostly blurry, pictures. Pictures of me and Harry drinking at some bar. Making out at the bar. Then pictures of us at a chapel. Me holding flowers. Me and Harry at the altar. We both had stupid looking grins on our faces. How could they not tell how drunk we were? And who was taking all these pictures?

I felt a lump in my throat. This wasn't a joke. I'm actually married to a stripper. A gorgeous, fucking sexy, and charming as hell stripper.

As I sat back down on my side of the bed, I buried my face in my hands, unsure of what to do next. Out of everything that I expected to happen during this trip, I was not expecting to have a quickie wedding in Vegas. I always thought this kind of thing just happened on TV.

Besides, I never even planned on having a regular wedding. Marriage was never something I really thought about or had lined up in my future. Relationships are not my kind of thing. I put all my time and energy into my career and never once dreamt of having the whole husband and kids and white picket fence fantasy. I left that up to my older sister, Cassidy, who always wanted to get married and have kids. Now Cassidy is a happy wife and mom of two kids, and I planned on being the cool and fun Aunt Taylor.

Of course, I had my hookups and occasional one night stands. I had to quench my thirst somehow. But the boyfriend thing wasn't something I wanted, no matter how hard some guys tried.

"Good morning," Harry murmured, straining as he stretched out his arms and sat up against the headboard. "How'd you sleep, beautiful?"

I threw the phone onto the pillow next to him. It sounded like he was as drunk as I was and had no recollection of our nuptials.

"Good morning, hubby," I responded simply.

He took the phone in his hands and started going through the pictures. His brows furrowed and his expression looked similar to what mine probably was just moments ago.

"What the fuck..." he said quietly, his attention went from the phone to me and then to the ring on his hand. "Is this what I think it is? We got married?!"

I raised my eyebrow at him just as I lifted up my left hand to show him the ring on my finger.

"It looks like we did, Mister..." I paused, realizing I didn't know what his last name even was. I only knew him as Harry, the bellhop, and Prince Harry. Then I realized that by not knowing his last name, I didn't even know my new last name. Fuck. How did my life turn into some country song?

"Styles," he interrupted my thoughts. "My last name is Styles, in case you were wondering. Which I guess is your last name now, too," he smirked at me. There was a look of amusement in his eyes and I couldn't help but smile at him. I didn't even know why. This kind of situation shouldn't be something to smile about.

"Why are you grinning at me like an idiot? We just got drunkenly married in Vegas and we know nothing about each other," I pointed out to him. "How did this even happen? Where did you take me last night?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... one question at a time," he answered, putting his hands up defensively. A smile was still plastered on his face. "I took you to my favorite bar. It just so happened to be next to a wedding chapel. But I don't know how we ended up there and how we decided to get married."

Before he let me respond, he turned to the phone on the bedside table and started dialing a number. I waited quietly, genuinely curious to know who he was calling.

"Bell desk, please. Thank you," he spoke into the phone, all while keeping his eyes connected with mine. He had a habit of doing that with me. I can't help it. I fucking love when he does it. "Trey, you asshole. Get up here. Now. Suite 5302. You've got a lot of fucking explaining to do."

He hung up the phone and shook his head. I stared at him silently waiting for yet another explanation. Who the fuck is Trey?

"Trey is my roommate. And my co-worker. He works here with me. And at the club, too, actually," he explained as it started to make more sense to me why Trey was on his way up to see us. He had to have been there last night. He was probably the one taking pictures of us during our lovely ceremony.

"So, he was there last night? How do I not remember him being there?" I asked, mostly to myself. I wish I was better at retaining my memories after a drunken night. Most of the time, I had to rely on my friends and photographic evidence to remind me of the stupid things I ended up doing. This, though, had to be the stupidest thing I've done while intoxicated.

"He drove us to the bar, don't you remember? We had drinks with him there," he managed to answer one of my questions. Harry stood up from the bed and started massaging his head. Seems like I wasn't the only one with a hangover from hell. "I'm trying to remember everything that led up to us finding ourselves at the bloody wedding chapel next door, but it's all fuzzy to me. Trey, he's better at remembering this shit than I am."

I ran my hands through my hair and shoved my face back into my hands. My head was still pounding, but somehow, knowing that Harry was feeling the same was a bit comforting.

"Have you got any aspirin?"

"Uh," I paused before remembering that I packed some in my suitcase. "Yeah, I'll grab it. I need some for myself, too."

Walking over to my suitcase, I searched through my toiletries to find the bottle of aspirin. I went to the bathroom sink and poured a glass of water and headed back to the bed. I took two pills and a sip of water before handing over the aspirin and water to Harry.

"Ah, don't you feel domestic already?" He asked, a grin on his face yet again. Why did he seem so relaxed about this?

"How are you not... I don't know, freaking out right now?! We're married!" I advised him as if it was brand new information. "Is this what you do to every cute girl you meet downstairs at the hotel lobby? You leave a little flyer for your strip club in the room and wait for them to find you pole-dancing in a sexy little gold thong?"

I took a deep breath and waited for his response.

"You think I'm sexy?" He answered as his smile got even wider. If it was any other situation where we didn't just wake up realizing we were married, I would have pounced on him just from that smile. He really had a lot of charm. Not the kind of charm that came off as a douche-y asshole, but the kind of charm that made your knees buckle.

Before he could continue, I hear a knock on the door and got up from the bed. "That must be your friend slash roommate slash coworker slash stripper," I said jokingly as I started to walk towards the suite door. "Put some pants on," I yelled to Harry before I opened the door.

"Trey?" I asked as I opened up the door to a man with a tan complexion, dark black hair, slicked back neatly, and hazel eyes. He's quite attractive, there was no doubt about that. As I take a second to look him over, I suddenly start to remember him from the night before.

"Good morning, Mrs. Styles," Trey greeted me with a British accent and a playful smile on his lips. I rolled my eyes at him. It only took a few seconds before Harry came walking towards us wearing the clothes he had from the night before.

"Trey, start talking."


	7. Why Not?

"I hope the honeymoon is going well," Trey laughed as he walked into the living room of the suite. I glared at him and shook my head in annoyance as I caught Harry smirking back at his friend. When Harry noticed that I saw his reaction, his face turned more serious and he mouthed the word 'sorry'.

Trey sat down on one of the chairs and I took a seat on the couch. Harry slowly walked towards me and sat down next to me. I gave him a comforting smile, almost feeling bad that I was making him feel guilty for this. I didn't realize till now that this happened to both of us and not just me.

I placed my hand on his knee and looked back at Trey. I only had it on there for a few seconds before noticing my wedding ring again and pulled my hand back gently. From the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw Harry's face frown for a second. I took a deep breath and turned my attention back to Harry's friend.

"Okay, Trey, please just start from the beginning. I guess from what Harry told me, you were the one that took us to the bar."

"Yeah, so uh, you guys ran into me outside the strip club and Harry told me where you guys were headed. I offered to drive since I could tell when Harry's had a few drinks in him and you were pretty tipsy yourself," he started as he briefly looking at the time on his phone. "We had a few drinks at the bar, we were having fun. I started chatting up with a couple of girls while you two started taking selfies and making out," he chuckled, stroking his stubbly chin.

"It was probably three AM and we were all pretty smashed," he continued, running his tattooed hand through his dark, silky hair. Both him and Harry had many tattoos. Trey was more covered up in his bellhop uniform, but just from looking at his hands, I figured he probably had more that I couldn't see.

"On our way out of the bar, both of you wouldn't stop telling each other how much you were in love with each other. All I kept hearing was 'you're so hot, I fucking love you' and 'I'm soooo in love with your face' and on and on. Someone, I don't know who, probably one of the girls I took home... well, one of them just finally said 'if you love each other so much, why don't you just get married?'"

I stared at Trey for a good moment, pretty much in awe of the story he was telling. He couldn't be serious.

"Are you fucking serious, mate?" Harry asked his friend for the both of us. "Why didn't you try to stop us?"

"Listen, H, we were all drunk last night. None of us were thinking straight," he responded, trying to defend himself for not trying to stop what happened. "You both thought it was the best idea and practically ran towards the wedding chapel next door to the bar. Well, to sum it up, you two crazy kids got married. I was the best man. Thanks, for choosing me, by the way, mate," he winked at Harry and chuckled again. "And your bridesmaids were the two sorority girls that I went home with," he continued as he looked towards me.

Before I could ask any more questions, Trey got up from his seat and walked back towards the suite door. "I'm sorry, guys, I'm still on the clock. I have to get back to work," he explained, waving goodbye to the both of us. "I'll see you later," he finished as he exited the suite.

I stood up from the couch and took a deep breath. Harry stood up after me and carefully wrapped his arms around me from behind. For some strange reason, I didn't have the urge to shrug him off like I normally would when a guy wanted to get this close. This gesture seemed like he just wanted to comfort me and I let myself lean against him. This wasn't a natural thing for me. Feelings and emotions weren't part of my sexual relationships, so I couldn't figure out why I was letting him be an exception.

We stood quietly for a while until I pulled away and started to walk back to my room. I could hear him coming after me and I knew that this was going to be a necessary conversation. We had to figure out what the next step would be. Annulment? Divorce? Those were the only two options, right?

I turned to Harry and before I could say another word, he come towards me and wrapped his arms around me again. This time, it was to hug me. It caught me by surprise, so it took a few seconds for me to return the hug.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled into my shoulder. I heard him take a deep breath before letting go of me. "I know what you must be thinking. You must think that I'm just some sleazy Vegas stripper, willing to seduce any girl I come into contact with into bed," he paused and sat down on the end of the bed. "But that's not what happened here. What you asked me earlier, before Trey got here, if I do this to every cute girl I meet in the hotel lobby and leave flyers in their rooms... I don't do that. I've never actually done that."

I don't know why I should believe him, but I do. There was just something about the look in his eyes and the genuine sound in his voice. I always thought I was a good judge in character. My whole life, I've learned not to let people into my life so easily. It was the reason I only had three best friends who were a huge part of my life, and also the reason why I couldn't let myself be in a serious relationship.

Hearing him tell me that he had never tried what he did with me with any other girl made me wonder why he did it with me. If he's never done this before, there had to be a reason why. I really was curious to know what it was about me that made him almost risk losing his job. There's undoubtedly a physical attraction between us. Everything about his physical appearance made me want to take his clothes right off.

I started to pace slowly in front of Harry and ended up standing in front of him. "This isn't your fault. I mean, this isn't anyone's fault, I guess," I admitted. "But we have to figure out what to do now. I mean, we can't stay married. That'd be crazy."

"Why not?" His voice was defensive, as if I was the one thinking irrationally.

"What do you mean 'why not'? You want to stay married? I can give you many reasons why not," I answered him, starting to get annoyed with how he was reacting to all of this.

"There's something between us," he answered, standing up from the bed so that he was facing me. His brilliant green eyes burned into mine. His features were soft but his voice sounded sincerely honest. "I don't know how to explain it, but I knew it when I first saw you. And then when you came to the strip club and into my dressing room..."

"How? How can you tell there's something between us? Because I blew you after you undressed in front of me and about two dozen other women," I interjected, momentarily regretting how harsh I was sounding. "I mean, we barely know each other. I just learned your last name less than an hour ago. You don't know a single thing about me," I started to rant, my voice getting louder by the second. 

"I know you're brave," he started, placing his hands on my hips as if to calm me down. "I know you're fucking confident and fearless. I realized that from what you did for me in my dressing room," he sheepishly smiled. "You've got a contagious smile when you actually let your guard down."

"And you got all that in less than twenty-four hours of knowing me?" I questioned, taking a small step backwards, though letting him keep his gentle grip on my hips.

"Knowing all of that is enough to make me want to know more about you," he shrugged, letting go of me as he sat back down on the bed. "So, yeah, technically we're legally married. But why end it so quickly because of that?"

"We also live on opposite sides of the country," I added, not remembering if I ever told him where I was visiting this city from.

"If that's your top reason why we shouldn't see each other anymore, than I have a solution for you. There's these things called smart phones, that let you call and text people. And computers with cameras. Think of all the sexy private strip shows I could give you from thousands of miles away," he said as he showed me his very charming smile that I was starting to enjoy seeing.

"So your idea is for us to start dating... while we're married?"

"Why not?" He asked me using those two words again, though this time, I wasn't as annoyed to hear it. His reasoning was kind of appealing in a way. But me, actually dating someone and putting effort into a relationship when I've never even been in one before? Especially a long distance one? I had no experience with that. There was so much that neither of us knew about each other.

"Think about it this way. It'd be easier for us to just say goodbye now, you go back home with your girlfriends and call up some lawyers and get this whole marriage thing annulled. But are you really, honestly, able to tell me that you don't want to see me again?"

"No," I responded, almost immediately, surprising myself. I offered him a small smile and sat down on the bed next to him. He had a way of letting my guard down, something every other guy I let into my bed never had the ability to do.

There was a moment of silence between us as we sat next to each other on the bed.

"Tell me about yourself," he finally spoke as he reached for my hand and held it in his. "And then I'll tell you about myself."

I was about to start talking, ready to go into the details of my life, when I heard the door to the suite open up and heard the voices of my three best friends. I stood up quickly from my bed and let go of Harry's hand.

"Taylor! Are you here?"


	8. Worth It

My body tensed at the thought of my best friends finding out what happened between Harry and I. First of all, they knew better than anyone that marriage was never in my future. I figure that at first, they'll be shocked and concerned that I married a stranger, but then they'll endlessly joke and laugh about it and I just can't handle that. At least not yet. They have to know about this, but I'll have to find another time to tell them.

"Take off your ring," I hissed quietly at Harry as I yanked mine off of my finger. I glanced around the room unsure of where to put it. How much did this ring cost anyway? Who even paid for this wedding? Even with Trey explaining the events of last night, I still had so many questions left unanswered.

"What? Why?" Harry questioned, putting his arms behind him to keep me from getting to his hands. He raised his eyebrows at me, his lips smiling playfully. "You don't want your friends to know we got married?"

"Shh, please, Harry," I start in a quiet voice. I hear my friends call out for me again. "I'll be right out!" I answer them loudly, hoping that they would be able to patiently wait for me.

"Harry, I'm sorry but they can't find out about us getting married. There's still so many things I- I mean, we need to figure out about what we're doing. Please, just... follow my lead and we'll talk about everything later."

He stood silent for a moment and then extended his arm out towards me. His palm opened and inside was his ring.

"Give it to me," he finally spoke and immediately, I reached out to place my ring onto his hand. He closed his hand up and walked closer towards me, his face now just inches away from mine. "Meet me for dinner tonight and we can continue... this. Whatever it is this is."

I took a quick look back at my hotel room door, knowing my friends were on the other side waiting for me to come out. Finally, I stared back at Harry. His face looked nervous but hopeful at the same time, completely the opposite look he had from last night when he was stripping on stage with such lust and raw desire for me and only me. It made me wonder which version of Harry was the real version of Harry. Or maybe there were just so many sides of him that I still haven't learned of.

"Okay," I breathed out. "I'll see you later tonight."

Before I could let either of us do or say anything else, I went to open the door and found Avery, Ivy, and Natalie laid out on the couches in the living room. Each one of them looked like they barely got any sleep. I start to wonder if their night was even more wild than mine.

I walked further into the room with Harry following behind me. Ivy was the first to notice Harry and her head jerked up from the couch.

"Hey, you two..." she greeted the both of us as excitedly as she could, though her voice was strained. Harry and I stood beside each other as Avery and Natalie's faces perked up to look in our direction once they noticed that we were in the room.

"Hi," I said simply, glancing quickly between Harry and my friends.

"Good morning, ladies," Harry said enthusiastically, smiling at each of my friends. I could see the frenzied look of curiosity on each of their faces as he turned his back to them and faced me. "I'll see you tonight," he said quietly to me right before placing a kiss on my cheek. Without another word, he gestured a wave to the rest of the room and walked out into the hotel hallway.

Within seconds, Avery, Ivy and Natalie all stood up from the couch with big, stupid grins on their faces. I was dreading having to lie to them about what happened. I mean, I'm not really going to be lying to them. Just omitting the truth until I'm ready to tell them that I just got married at a twenty-four hour wedding chapel.

"Did I hear him right? You're seeing him again after hooking up?" Natalie questioned me, a comical look of disbelief displayed on her face. I don't blame her. This is out of the ordinary for me. My one night stands were just that. They last one night and that was it. I never hear from them again. That's how I liked it. Attachments were just messy and exhausting. I didn't have the time or energy for that while I was off getting my college degree and making my way up in my career.

"So I'm guessing he let your ride his pony?" Avery asked with a grin and a raised brow, snickering away and causing Ivy and Natalie to laugh. I rolled my eyes at her at first, but I couldn't help laughing along with them.

"Shut up," I answered her back, unable to stop from smiling. I cleared my throat and shrugged. "We're just gonna grab dinner, he's a cool guy," I added, trying to sound as casual as possible. I had to get myself to relax a bit so they couldn't tell that anything was wrong. I'm glad I thought about taking our rings off because one of them would have definitely pointed it out if they saw it. I needed to distract them enough so that they didn't ask more questions about Harry.

"I wanna hear all about your wild night and we've got so much to catch you up on too," Avery began while she walked over to me to give me a hug. "I wish you were there with us, we had such a blast after you left us to go hang out with your new stripper boyfriend."

"He is _not_ my boyfriend," I huffed, sounding almost offended by the title. _He's just my husband._

"Geez, I'm just kidding, Tay," Avery laughed, letting me go.

"Well, I'm exhausted," Natalie sighed and walked towards the door to her room. She stretched her arms up and dropped them to her sides. I was genuinely curious what it was they did all night that made them all so exhausted. "Why don't we take a quick hour or two to rest up and then let's grab lunch and go shopping?"

Avery, Ivy and I all agreed to her plan and I was thankful that I'd be able to get a moment to myself to collect my thoughts and maybe take a cat nap.

We all headed into our own rooms and I practically drowned myself into my bed. Instead of shutting my eyes to let myself get another hour of sleep, I stared up at the ceiling. I raised my left hand up above me and gawked at my now bare hand that was missing one piece of jewelry that I woke up with earlier. The thought of meeting up with Harry later made me anxious. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. 

Why is it that he literally just left and I couldn't wait to see him again?

......

Lunch and shopping with Avery, Ivy and Natalie consisted of going into exact detail about what happened with them and the group of Australians they found after they left the strip club. There was a naughty game of truth or dare in their hot tub which ended up with all of them skinny dipping in the pool. Lucky for me, they only had a few questions about Harry, which included the question about his penis size and how he was in bed. Typical questions that I was already prepared to answer.

I convinced the girls to catch the Cirque du Soleil show without me and now I was left in the suite alone rifling through my luggage and everyone else's luggage looking for an outfit to wear. I thought I had packed enough choices for the weekend, but I didn't really foresee me going on a first date with my new husband.

Harry would be arriving in twenty minutes and I was still wearing my bra and panties. I finally settled on a black top and one of Ivy's skirts after texting her begging for permission to let me wear it.

Once I finished putting on my heels and touching up my makeup, I went down to the hotel lobby to wait for Harry. It was odd to think that just a day ago was when he caught my eye. I was caught in a daze thinking about that moment when suddenly Trey was walking up to me.

"Hi?" I was confused to find him meeting me and I began to look around to see if Harry was nearby.

"You're probably wondering where Harry is," he answered, reading the puzzled look on my face. "Well, I am your chauffeur for the night. Harry had me come pick you up and drop you off to meet him for dinner."

I was intrigued by the gesture Harry was making by having his friend come pick me up to drive me to this date that he had planned. I didn't even have a clue as to what was in store for me.

"Alright, driver, take me away..." I smiled at him as I latched my arm into his.

..........

The ride to wherever I was being driven to consisted of small talk between me and Trey. I was too preoccupied with my thoughts to really go further into any personal questions. Trey did seem like a nice guy, although he definitely did have a foul British mouth with the way he cursed at other cars in traffic.

I guess I wasn't paying too much attention to where we were going because by the time the we reached our destination, I still didn't know where I was going. The only thing that I could see was Harry standing handsomely at the curb dressed in a blue button down shirt and black pants.

Trey got out of the car and went around to open my door as Harry approached us. Harry's hand reached out to me and I smiled at him, holding onto his hand to step out of the car.

"Hi Taylor," he said, leaning in to give me a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi, Mr. Styles," I replied. I felt a feeling of excitement to see him again, which caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting that. "Where are we going to dinner?"

Harry looked at me and pointed up, gesturing for me to look at what he was pointing at. I looked to see what it was and up above was the observation wheel that I saw when flying into Las Vegas. It was dark now so the lights of the wheel were illuminated with different colors.

"We're having dinner up there?" I asked in awe of the size of what we were about to spend the next hour in.

"Yeah, I thought it'd be kind of nice. Just the two of us in an enclosed space," he chuckled, offering his arm for me to loop mine into. I put my arm in his and he led me to deck of the observation wheel so that we could enter our spaceship-looking pods. We had to wait a few minutes for our personal pod to reach the bottom, but we stood in silence until it arrived.

What I did notice, though, was that all the other pods were filled with tourists. Groups of families and couples were inside the pods, none of them seemed to be empty. I wondered how it was going to be possible to have dinner in there.

Once our pod was at the bottom, the doors opened up and inside was an empty vessel with a single table draped in white tablecloth and two chairs. The table was set for two people with candles and a single rose in a vase in the center.

I stepped inside with Harry beside me and stood while the doors closed around us. It was just me and Harry now.

"How did you set this all up so fast?" I asked curiously. We had only arranged this date hours ago, but this kind of thing seemed like it'd take much longer than that to put together.

"I have a friend who owed me a favor help me set this whole thing up," Harry said as he pulled out my chair so I could sit down.

"Seems like a really big favor."

"It's worth it," he replied simply as he sat down across from me.

I smiled at him as I studied his face for a moment, noticing the dimples in his cheeks again. He kept his focus on me as the wheel took us up higher by the minute.

"I'm sorry I had to rush you out of the suite earlier. I still haven't processed everything just yet, and having them come in while we were trying to figure things out..." I trailed off, my eyes looking off into the distance of the bright buildings surrounding us. "I want to keep this just between us for now. I hope you can understand that."

Harry nodded his head and smiled. "I understand," he started, his head lowered as his eyes focused on the menu. For a few seconds, he was quiet but then he raised his head back up and looked me in the eyes. "I just have one thing to ask of you tonight," he continued. My interest was piqued, though I didn't interrupt him. "This is our first date. I mean, our first real date. Let's not talk about what happened last night, the wedding, getting an annulment or a divorce, our potential future together or not together... none of that. Let's pretend that we're just two people on their first date together, getting to know each other."

I paused for a moment, thinking about the fact that I've never really done the whole dating thing. My friends would tease me and joke about it, saying that I'm a commitment-phobe because I've never had interest of having an actual relationship that wasn't just about sex. It also didn't help that most of the guys that I've hooked up with in the past have been either douchebags or dumbasses.

There was something about the way Harry looked at me that got me to let my guard down. Maybe it was because his smile was so genuine and when I looked into his eyes, there wasn't a hint of a false persona. He was showing me his true self, which was kind of refreshing.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded my head and showed him a smile. "Okay, then. No talking about any of that. But _you_ have to take the lead," I requested, causing him to smile even wider.


	9. The First Date (Part 1)

As our pod reached the peak of the observation wheel, Harry made sure we placed our order through the intercom system with the people downstairs so that they could have it ready when we reached the bottom. We both ended up choosing the same thing, filet mignon with a glass of white wine.

I stood up from my seat to get a glimpse of the view we had. Harry got up seconds after me and stood right beside me. I was kind of in awe to be able to see the entire city's lights from such a great height. "This view is so beautiful," I said quietly, staring out into the city.

"Breathtaking," I thought I heard him say, though he said it so quietly that I wondered if I was just hearing things. When I turned to look at him, I caught his eyes looking back at me. Instantly, he diverted his eyes back to the skyline.

I took this moment to watch him and I found myself genuinely smiling at how sweet he was being. How is this the same guy that less than twenty four hours ago, was grinding on a stripper pole in a gold thong? There must be so much more to him that I don't know about and I was itching to find out more.

"So, what is your favorite color?" He finally said in his normal volume.

I let out a chuckle and shook my head. " _That's_ your first question?"

Harry bit his bottom lip and nodded his head, urging me to answer.

"Green. Like an emerald green," I answered him, tilting my head. "Are all your questions tonight going to be this easy?"

"I'm trying to ease you into it. You don't seem like someone that reveals everything about yourself right away. I have a feeling you're more like the act now and speak later type of person," he explained and I couldn't help but agree. It was true and I really couldn't blame him for suggesting it. My mind went back to how I acted with a few drinks in my system the first time I was alone in a room with him. Remembering the sensation of being so close to him made my mouth water.

"Ask me anything you want," I encouraged him, preparing myself to answer the list of questions he probably had collected in his thoughts.

"Um," he stammered as he placed a finger to his lips. "Well, you know what I do for a living... what is it that you do for a living?"

"I work for a PR firm. Right now, I'm just a junior publicist, but I plan on working my way up. I wanna have a big office with floor to ceiling glass overlooking New York City," I started, looking back out through the glass towards the view that was upon us. "I don't know why, but there's just something about looking out at something so vast and massive to make you think about how small all your own problems are."

"It sounds quite calming."

"That's exactly what it is. Calming."

I turned away from the glass again and faced Harry. "What got you into that strip club?" I blurted out. I almost slapped myself for asking so bluntly, unsure if he would be offended by the question. "I mean, I'm not trying to say it's a bad thing, obviously I enjoyed it myself, but... you have your job at the hotel. Why be a stripper too?"

"It pays really good money," he shrugged. "I worked at the hotel first and that's where I met Trey. We both go to the university here as business majors and then we decided to room together. Then, he started stripping to make extra money and recruited me after months of him having to convince me it was a good idea. I didn't jump right into it. I didn't even think I had it in me, but after the first few times, I guess it kind of just came naturally."

"No, you definitely have it in you. You were very impressive up on that stage," I complimented him and expressed a very delighted look on my face. Harry's lips formed into bashful smile that caused both his cheeks to redden and I noticed that this cute dimples always appeared whenever he showed any emotion.

Before either of us could say another word, the glass doors behind us opened up and a man with two trays entered the pod. He placed our plates of food and glasses of wine on the table before walking away to allow the doors to close again.

"Dinner's served," Harry said as he held his hand up for me to hold. I grasped onto his hand as he led me back to the dinner table. He pulled out my chair for me to sit down and I waited for him to take his seat.

More questions came up throughout dinner and I learned that Harry was almost done with getting his college degree. He wanted to stay at the strip club and the hotel only until he could find a real job working in business after graduation. I told him about my sister and her husband being pregnant with their third child and how my niece and nephew were the only children that I actually enjoy being around. Harry shook his head at me and raved about how much he loved spending time with children. His brother and sister each had two of their own and his face lit up as he talked about how much he loved being an uncle.

"Do you ever want kids of your own?" He asked me, my face froze immediately after hearing the question. I didn't expect him to ask me that question and he could probably tell from my reaction. "Fuck, I'm sorry, uh..." he paused and muttered something under his breath.

"It's okay," I assured him, shrugging my shoulders. It's not that I don't want kids, but I never had anyone to want kids with. I also never planned on getting married. "I guess I never thought about it," I admitted, taking the last sip of my wine.

It was quiet for a few seconds, our plates and glasses were now empty. I hoped that the talk of babies didn't ruin the night. Harry got up from his seat and walked up to the control center of the pod. After he pressed a few buttons, the music from the speakers got louder and a soft, slow song started playing. He walked over to me and reached out his hand.

"Dance with me?"

Without a hesitation, I placed my hand in his and stood up from my seat. He led me a few feet away from the dinner table and pulled me closer to him. I wrapped my arm around his back as he held our hands against his chest and we slowly swayed along to the music.

There was a comfortable silence for a while as I pressed my forehead against his. I could smell his cologne on him, the scent was nice and fragrant. Normally when I smelled cologne on guys, it was like they were drenched in it and the smell ended up being overwhelming and gross. Harry's scent was intoxicating, but in a good way.

The feeling of being so close to him gave me goosebumps for some reason. He made me nervous and warm. It felt so foreign that I couldn't quite understand it. "What are you doing to me?" I ask so quietly that it was almost a whisper.


	10. The First Date (Part 2)

I couldn't tell if Harry heard me because he didn't say anything after. Seconds later, Harry cupped my cheek with one of his hands and I shut my eyes from his touch. I could feel his warm breaths against my mouth and we breathed in each other's air. I felt him breathe deeply right before his mouth finally met mine.

I returned his kiss right away, softly running my tongue against his. I let go of his hand and wrapped my arms around him, letting my fingers settle into his hair. His hands roamed around my body, first placed on my back and lowered down slowly.

I was so preoccupied by Harry that I barely even noticed the wheel had stopped moving. My eyes peeked out as Harry's lips slowly moved down to my neck. I could tell we were at the peak of the wheel again because I could see the entire city's skyline from where we were standing.

"The... wheel... stopped," I pointed out in between breaths.

"I know," Harry mumbled into my skin. He pulled his mouth off me and gave me a comforting, almost playful grin. "I might have paid my friend a little extra to stop the wheel for a bit. And to turn off the cameras," he added almost breathlessly before his mouth returned to my neck.

I slowly backed up until I could feel the cold glass against the back of my legs and I leaned my body against it. Harry's determined lips continued to suck and nibble on my neck while his hands reached for the hem of my top. He pulled it off in one quick motion revealing my breasts in a lacy black bra.

As his eyes gaped at my chest, I went to cup my hand over his crotch when he gently pushed my hand away and shook his head.

"No, baby.... this is about you," he said, his voice deep and raspy. It took a second to realize what he meant by that until he got down on his knees. I bit down on my bottom lip, impatiently waiting for his next move. His lust filled eyes looked up at me as his hands reached up my thighs and slowly slid my panties down and removed them from me. He then grabbed hold of my legs, and one by one, placed them on his shoulders. The weight of my body was now being held by him and the glass wall.

Instantly, my legs wrapped around his neck and I felt the warmth of his mouth against me. First his tongue pressed on my thigh and already I had to stifle a moan. I could feel his lips form into a smile at that moment, which caused me to gently hold onto him by his curly locks. I craved for his touch and in a matter of seconds, he obliged when his tongue and two long fingers delved into me, caressing and pleasing my clit.

I couldn't control myself anymore as my mouth let out a moan. I dug my nails against the back of his neck and then raked my fingers through his hair.

"Fuck.... Harry, please..." I let out a whimper and thrust myself further. He must have still had an appetite because his tongue was being relentless against me. My mouth let out small gasps as my body tensed and writhed until my orgasm finally came.

My head rested against the glass as my hands still held onto Harry's head. He placed soft kisses on my stomach while he managed to set my feet back down on the floor. I could barely hold myself up and continued to lean against the glass. Harry was now at eye level with me, his gaze looked frenzied as he licked his lips.

I was speechless.

"How's that for a first date?" He said in a low voice, placing a finger under my chin.

I reached for him as I wrapped my arms around his body hugged him tight.

"You're a man of many talents," I whispered into his ear, causing him to let out a chuckle. I took a step back and shook my head. "If that's what this marriage is gonna be like..." I started to say when I caught myself, remembering that we weren't supposed to talk about being married.

Harry reached for my hand. He held it up and placed a kiss on it.

"Sorry," I blurted and shook my head. "I didn't mean to go back to that topic."

He let go of my hand and bent down to grab my shirt and underwear to hand them back to me. I put them back on just as the wheel started back up again.

"No, we eventually have to go back to that topic. We still have a lot to talk about and decide before you go back home," he responded with a shrug. "When do you go back home anyway?"

"I go back tomorrow," I answered simply.

His face fell slightly like I just gave him some bad news. I could tell he didn't want me to leave so soon. If I'm being honest with myself, a part of me didn't want to leave, either.

"Will you stay with me tonight? We can go back to my flat, if that's okay with you. Or we can go back to the hotel. Whatever you want. I just don't want you to leave without us figuring things out," Harry sounded worried and I couldn't blame him. I can't just leave town and pretend that I didn't just gain a husband and a new last name.

"Let's go to your place," I decided, figuring it'd be better to talk without my friends around. At least at his apartment, the only other person there would be Trey, and he already knew about us being married.

Harry nodded at my decision and leaned in to kiss my cheek. I realized that he liked to kiss my cheek a lot and that had to take some getting used to. Showing signs of affection was something I had to get used to, but that was only if we planned on keeping each other around.

When the wheel finally brought us back to the bottom, Harry reached for my hand again and I grabbed hold of his as we stepped out of the pod. He led me out and I followed as we walked to the valet to leave.

His car, a bright red Ford Mustang, arrived minutes later.

......

The drive to his apartment took only about fifteen minutes. He walked me to the door and paused for a moment to turn back to me.

"Sorry about the mess. Trey's not the neatest guy," he warned me, smirking. "But he shouldn't be home tonight, actually. He's got a shift at the club tonight," he added while he unlocked the door and gestured for me to come in.

His apartment was a nice size for two guys to live in. It wasn't as messy as he made it sound. It was actually quite put together. I walked into the living room and watched as Harry headed for the kitchen.

"Water?" I hear him ask from behind the refrigerator door.

"Sure," I answer him as I start to look at the picture frames lined up on his wall. It was him and his family, I figured. His parents with him, his brother and sister in one photo. Another photo of him with some adorable children, I figured must be his nieces and nephews. I smiled at it, studying his face in the picture. He looked so happy and proud.

My thoughts were interrupted when Harry came up beside me and handed me a bottle of water. I turned to look at him as I opened the bottle and took a quick sip.

"They're beautiful kids," I told him, offering a kind smile.

"Yeah, they're amazing," he agreed, his smile was even wider as his attention was held by the photograph of his family. I could tell they meant a lot to him and I knew what that feeling was like. My family was important to me, too. Probably the only people other than Natalie, Avery and Ivy that meant more to me than anything else.

"Do they live here?" I asked him, unsure if he had his family nearby or if they were located elsewhere.

"No, they're in England," he answered. "I try to visit as often as I can, but with school and work, it's gotten harder. I'm just glad I'm almost done with school. Just one semester left," he continued, grinning at the idea of finally being a college graduate.

"And when you're done with school? Will you go back to England?"

"I didn't really think that far ahead yet. I guess now it depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Depends on if you want to give this thing a real shot."


	11. Commit

I wasn't sure how to respond to what Harry just told me. How could we be such a huge part of each other's lives when we didn't even know each other existed before this weekend began? How could I be such an influence on his decision to move back to England to be with his family or stay in America and be with me?

Pressing my lips together, I looked away from Harry and started to walking towards the couch in his living room. There was so much riding on what this conversation and I didn't want to say anything I would regret. Sitting down, I ran my hands through my hair and took a deep breath.

"Taylor, please say something," Harry urged as he followed me. Sitting down next to me, he placed a hand on my back and started rubbing. "I'm sorry if I'm putting pressure on you, it's just that..." he paused for a moment and pulled his hand back.

"It's crazy what we did," he continued after a breath. "We both know that the logical and realistic way to end this would be to get this taken care of and never see each other again. But you and I aren't just strangers to each other anymore."

"Harry, it's just that... I'm no good at relationships. Believe me, I've tried. I tried in college and all the guys I went out with were just fucking idiots with one goal, which was to just get into my pants. After failing so many times, I guess I just took on their approach in dating and never let any guy get close to me," I confessed, feeling like I just took a huge weight off my shoulders.

It was always a joke between my friends and I that I'd end up never getting married and living the rest of my life hooking up with one guy after another. I always made it seem like I was proud of hoeing it up, but there have been many times when I felt ashamed of it. And then I'd end up doing the same thing over again and it became a vicious cycle.

The truth was, the commitment of being in a relationship with someone scared me too much. The fear of being with someone who could potentially just end it anytime they wanted was in the back of my head every time some guy would try to convince me to go out with them. I could never admit that to anyone. I could barely even admit it to myself.

"I'm not like those other guys. And if I'm being honest, there are lots of guys out there like me that aren't like that. It seems to me like you're just afraid of getting your heart broken and you've never let anyone get close to you because of that."

It hurt to hear him say that yet I knew it was true. My face felt hot and I suddenly I could feel tears running down my cheek. I couldn't understand how Harry was bringing out a part of me that I've never showed anyone before. The only times I've cried was at funerals or when I got shots at the doctor.

"Please don't cry, darling," Harry said as he wiped away a tear on my cheek.

I wiped away the rest of my tears and breathed in and out, attempting to calm down.

"I could give this a try. We could give this a try. And then what happens when I do or say something stupid and fuck it up and you don't want me anymore?"

"Then you'll break my heart. And I'll live with it," he answered without a hesitation. His whole outlook on this was so different from mine but now I wanted so badly to be on his side of this.

"You can't just restrict yourself from being in a relationship in fear of getting your heart broken. There are some things in life that are worth the risk," he went on, getting up from his seat. He looked down at me, causing me to gaze up at him. "So either take the risk or go back to New York, back to that life, if that's what you want."

I swear I could feel my heart beat faster as I stood up from the couch. It felt like I was in some stupid Nicholas Sparks movie that one of my friends made me watch where everyone in the theater but me left in tears.

I leaned in and wrapped my arms around Harry's neck. My lips pressed against his for a few seconds until I pulled away and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around me while I rested my head on his shoulders, continuing to hold on to his embrace.

After a moment, I let go of him and took a step back.

"How will this work?" I asked him, cautiously thinking about the possibility of being in a relationship when we live on opposite sides of the country and both live such busy lives. "We have to think about how we're actually going to keep our relationship a relationship. You say we can keep in contact long distance but is that really how you want to have us to start this?"

"It's not going to be easy at first," he answered, taking my hands in his. "The long distance thing won't be permanent. But I can come see you in New York. You can come here. We can skype or facetime. We're still getting to know each other and with each thing I learn about you, I think I'm..."

I was anticipating what he was going to say but I didn't want him to say it. I continued to hold on to his hands but I shook my head and looked down.

"Please don't say what I think you're going to say. At least not yet. It's too soon, Harry," I begged.

"Don't act like you're not feeling the same bloody thing about me," he countered, his voice almost harsh. I felt a sharp pain in my chest and I knew he was right.

Is it really possible to fall for someone so fast?

I bit my lip and looked back up at him, his face in a sad frown.

"Please just wait. Wait a little bit until I'm comfortable with admitting it." I pleaded.

His features softened and he reluctantly nodded his head. It eased my nerves a bit for him to agree and I was glad he was willing to compromise.

"I'll wait. But you can't just hide your feelings because you think it's too soon. Eventually, we need to tell each other how we really feel."

Hearing him give such wise advice made me wonder how many serious relationships Harry has had in the past. How many long term girlfriends? How many times has he been in love? I wasn't sure if I really wanted to know just yet, but I imagine that eventually, the topic will come up.

"There's a lot of things I'm going to learn from you, I hope you know that," I replied with a sigh and attempted to crack a smile in an attempt to lighten the mood. He smiled back at me and pulled me in for another embrace.

"Why don't we go to my room and get some sleep? I know you're leaving tomorrow and I have work tomorrow, too. After such a long day today, I'm quite exhausted," Harry suggested after we separated from each other.

I simply nodded my head as Harry led me to his bedroom. It really had been a long day and my friends and I had planned on doing one last thing on our list tomorrow before leaving Las Vegas. I wasn't looking forward to leaving, but after this talk with Harry, I knew there was more to look forward to after I got back to New York.

Inside his room was a king size bed with nightstands on each side and a TV on the wall. It was simple and organized, which really didn't surprise me. I started taking off my skirt and top just as Harry was changing out of his clothes.

"Can I borrow some clothes to sleep in?"

He goes to his dresser and pulls out a plain white t-shirt and a pair of boxers before walking over to me. He's shirtless now, dressed only in boxers, and I could see his tattoos better now that we weren't in a dark strip club. I wanted to ask him more about his tattoos and look at each one he had but I decided to wait to ask sometime in the future.

"What's mine is yours," he says as he hands me the clothes to change in. I gave him a smile while rolling my eyes at his comment.

We settled into his bed and I realized that for the first time, I was getting into bed with a member of the opposite sex without having sex.

Harry reached out for me and I cuddled up closer to him, feeling comforted by his presence.

"Good night, beautiful," Harry said softly, kissing my cheek.

"Good night," I said sleepily as I thought about what the next day would bring.


	12. Good Morning

I woke up to hear a buzzing against the nightstand next to me. I reached for my phone and looked at the time. 7am. I'm supposed to meet the girls to check out of the room and then head to our last activity, which was to shoot at the gun range. Our flight back home leaves at 7pm, which means I've got about twelve hours left in this city.

Harry was still sound asleep and I shifted myself closer to him, resting my head on his chest. I traced my finger along one of his tattoos, a huge butterfly spread across his ribs. I moved my hand lower and rubbed my fingers over the ferns tattooed on his lower stomach. I thought about what the stories behind each of his tattoos were and how many he even had.

I always wanted to get a tattoo but I couldn't decide on what to get and where to get it. I decided that once I found the perfect tattoo idea, I'd get it done right there and then.

My hand continued on touching Harry's fern tattoos when Harry shuffled in his sleep. I took a peek at his face, his eyes still closed and his lips wet and slightly open.

This would be our last few hours together for a while. I smiled to myself and decided that I wanted to make this morning worthwhile.

I lowered my hand further down his stomach and under the waistband of his boxer shorts, reaching for his cock. Stroking him gently, I started to kiss his chest, placing my lips against one of his sparrow tattoos. I watched as Harry licked his lips in his sleep and seconds later, his eyes opened alertly, realizing that what was happening wasn't the beginning of a wet dream.

"Good morning, Mr. Styles," I said in a low, soft voice.

His erection grew almost immediately while my hand was still wrapped around him, causing me to smile widely at his quick response. He returned my expression and licked his lips again.

"Fuck. Good morning, Mrs. Styles..." he said in a raspy breath. For some reason, hearing him call me Mrs. Styles sparked a satisfying feeling within me.

"Mm..." I leaned in to place a kiss on his lips before letting go of him to pull my shirt over my head, exposing my bare chest to him.

I gazed into his eyes and started pulling down the boxers of his that I was wearing. Harry tugged down his boxers to display his erection and I got up and moved over him to straddle his waist. Harry's hand reached for me and placed his two of his fingers in between my thighs. His eyebrow raised slightly and he grinned ever wider, most likely because he felt just how wet I was. He put those same two fingers between his lips and sucked before reaching over to the nightstand beside him. I watched as he pulled out a condom packet and opened it up quickly. He leaned up slightly and reached behind me as he rolled the condom on.

Immediately after, Harry held onto my hips and easily pulled me up as I grabbed onto his arms. His arms were strong and I could feel just how muscular they were. Before I could react, Harry gently placed me beside him onto my back and he rolled over to hover over me. I spread my legs further apart and Harry entered inside me gently. I held onto his hips, encouraging him to go deeper, and moaned as he began to thrust. Slowly and softly at first, and then faster and harder. My hands moved from his hips to his back as I tried to hold onto him the best I could.

Harry kept a long, steady pace and I dug my fingers into his back, feeling myself reaching my climax. My back arched and I pushed myself up further into him, feeling him pulse inside me. A shockwave went through my body and my breathing went ragged as Harry moaned loudly. His body relaxed and he rested his head on my shoulder while he pulled himself out of me.

Our bodies were hot and sweaty, tangled up in each other. We were breathless and silent for a moment and the only sound I could hear was our heavy breathing. I started to brush Harry's hair with my fingers, pushing the strands away from his face as he looked back at me. The color of his eyes were still so pleasing to look at and I didn't want to tear my own eyes off of them. I felt like I was in a daze now, with the inability to pay attention to anything but Harry.

"Please don't leave yet," he said abruptly, his voice low and quiet. His voice vibrated on my skin as he talked and I swear I could feel his heart beating faster.

"I can stay another hour or two with you here."

"No..." he trailed off for a second. He shifted slightly onto his side to lay beside me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and gently caressed my skin with his fingers. "Don't go home to New York yet. Stay with me, at least for a few more days."

I wanted nothing more than to say yes, and I almost did. But the logical part of my brain kicked in and I knew that it couldn't happen. I have to leave today and go home with my friends. My friends that don't even know that I'm married to Harry. I still had to find a way to tell them the truth about what happened this weekend. I decided it was best to wait till we got home for me to tell them. And it wouldn't make sense to them if I decided to stay here.

Not to mention that once I got back, I had my job waiting for me to return. I couldn't risk taking more days off, especially if I wanted to get the promotion that I've been eyeing for the past few weeks.

Harry and I made a compromise when we agreed to start a relationship last night. We would work on dating each other, even with us living thousands of miles apart. That would take a lot of getting used to, but we both decided it's what we wanted.

I breathed in deeply, though I could already see from the look on Harry's face that he knew what my response was going to be. He looked away from me and I softly took his cheek into my hand.

"I have to go back. Believe me, I don't want to. Especially after what we just did," I said with a chuckle. I took my hand and grabbed onto his and waited for his eyes to connect with mine again. "Trust me, this is just the beginning. If sex with you is that mindblowing, I'll be coming back for more."

Harry laughed and started to blush at my comment. I thought it was quite endearing that he made it seem he wasn't aware of how sexually attractive and sexually talented he was.

"Besides," I said as I leaned into him and kissed his neck and shoulder. "We've still got phone sex to look forward to. And skype sex. Imagine all the possibilities... I'm sure I can get really creative."

Harry breathed in and out slowly. I could feel his lungs expanding beside me. "Then I have one request for you. When you get home and facetime me, I want _you_ to strip for _me_ ," he requested, his smile playfully teasing me.


	13. Hooked

"What time do you need to be at work today?" I asked Harry, our bodies still intertwined as we laid in his bed. My hands held one of his hands absentmindedly massaging and playing with his fingers.

"10 AM," he answered simply, sighing while he gripped my hands a bit tighter.

"I just wanna lay here all day," I whined, unwilling to move or get up. Getting up would mean that I would have to let go of Harry. I've found so much comfort in being near him so quickly that I hated the idea of having to go back home without him.

I thought about how long we'd be spending our relationship long distance. Weeks? Months? How long will it take for Harry to realize that I'm not girlfriend material and decide to end things? I couldn't even imagine having a relationship with someone in New York and now here I am, with a husband in Las Vegas.

"You know, we _could_ just lay here all day..." Harry suggested, his tone of voice highly suggestive. His eyes peeked at me, while his lips curled into a smile.

I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. There was a charming way about him, that was one of the things I noticed first about him when we first met. His voice was seductive and persuasive, his smile would get wide and his eyes gazed at you like you're the center of his attention.

"There's no way Natalie is going to forgive me for missing another activity. I already missed out on last night with them. They're going to give me so much shit for basically bailing on this weekend."

"When are you going to tell them about us?" Harry inquired, his voice sounding genuinely curious.

"I guess when we get back to New York. But I know they're going to ask so many questions when I meet up with them today that I may just blurt it out just to get it over with," I started, letting go of Harry's hand to sit up on his bed. I leaned against the headboard and grabbed a pillow to cover my bare skin. "This is Nat's weekend. I don't want to steal her thunder."

"So what are you gonna tell them what you did with me all night?"

I smirked at him and shrugged. "I'll just tell them we were fucking in bed all night."

Harry let out a laugh and nodded his head in agreement. "Works for me."

As I laughed along with Harry, my phone buzzed again as I got a text from Ivy telling me where to meet for breakfast. I sighed, looking at the time. We both had to start getting back to the hotel now if Harry wanted to get to work on time.

Harry's phone started to buzz at the same time and I instantly wondered who it could be. The only people I knew about in Harry's life was Trey and his family in England. I imagine someone as charismatic as Harry must have a lot of friends. Especially for a guy that struts around a strip club filled with other hot people stripping on stage.

"Sorry, love, time to get out of bed," Harry spoke before placing a kiss on my cheek. He pushed himself off the bed, still naked from our morning rendezvous, and started going through his closet. "I'm gonna take a quick shower. Care to join?"

"Wow, Styles," I chuckled, grinning at him. "Eager to see me naked for as long as possible, huh?"

He grinned back at me sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, yeah..."

........

Harry and I had to hurry out of the shower when we realized how long we had been in there. I barely had time to dry my hair and I ended up leaving it damp as I looked through Harry's closet for something to wear. I came across a pair of jeans that looked like they would be small enough to fit me. I searched for the tag and found that they were a pair of women's jeans in my size.

I wondered for a moment who the jeans belonged to but I was in such a rush to get dressed, I decided to wait to ask Harry about it. Once I found a t-shirt to wear, I put on my heels and turned to look at Harry who was dressed in his bellboy uniform. I smiled at him, suddenly flashing back to just two days ago when I first came across him in the hotel lobby. After all that has happened, two days ago feels like ages ago.

Two days ago, I was single and ready to spend a wild weekend in Vegas with my best friends. Today, I'm dating my husband who happens to be a male stripper.

After getting dressed and ready to go, Harry and I drove back to the hotel. The car ride was mostly spent with me putting all my contact information in Harry's phone and Harry telling me all his contact information to put on my phone. Our phone numbers, email addresses, home and work addresses. Being legally bound to one another meant that we had to know these details about each other.

"Taylor, please call me when you land in New York. I don't care what time it is or if it goes to voicemail, leave a message and tell me you're home safely," Harry told me as he parked his car. I found it really cute that he was so concerned about me. I held onto his hand and leaned in to kiss him on the lips. I slid my tongue between his lips and then bit gently at his bottom lip. Pulling away, I held his cheek in the palm of my hand.

"I will call you once I land. I promise."

We got out of the car and laced our hands together as we walked into the hotel. I gave him one last kiss on the cheek and noticed the frown on his lips. He pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me. I returned his hug and rubbed his back, leaning my head on his shoulders.

"You have no idea how thankful I am that you flirted with me in the hotel lobby. I saw you standing there with your friends, you were giggling your ass off. Drunk before noon," he chuckled as he commented on how my friends and I arrived the other day from all the mimosas we drank on the plane ride to Vegas. "I wanted to say something to you, but I didn't want to get written up for trying to get your number..."

I continued to listen to him but pulled away from the hug and held onto his hands so I could see his face as he went on.

"So instead, I came up with the idea to leave that flyer in your room. I was kind of hoping a group of rowdy girls like you and your friends would be interested in checking out some male strippers..." he continued, smirking at me. He was dead right about that. "I didn't think I'd run into you again until I quite literally ran into you in the hallway. But I'm glad I did, and I'm glad that you continued to flirt with me. You have no idea how happy I was to see you in the audience at the club. I couldn't take my eyes off you. Fucking hell, Taylor, you got me hooked on you straight away. I barely stood a chance. "

"Harry..." I started, attempting to form a coherent response. I wasn't sure what to say. It was like a mixture of flattery and amazement. It made me realize that the way he felt about me was just how I felt, too. I was hooked on Harry. "Thank you. I wouldn't take this weekend back for anything. Wedding and all. I'd do the same thing over again if it means I'd get to be with you."

Harry smiled back at me, his dimpled cheeks had reddened slightly. I leaned in and kissed his lips.

"I'll talk to you soon, my husband."

"Have a good flight, my wife."

And it was at that moment when we exchanged goodbyes that I realized we weren't alone. Behind Harry stood my three best friends, their facial expressions were of confusion and curiosity.

"Husband? Wife?" I hear Ivy ask as I let go of Harry. Harry turned around to face Ivy, Natalie and Avery.


	14. Explain

For a few seconds, I couldn't feel myself moving or reacting. I just stared back at them in disbelief. I wasn't prepared to tell them yet but now they were standing right in front of me asking why Harry and I just called each other husband and wife. There's no possible way I could get myself out of this. I could find a way to try to spin it, but then I'd be lying to them. I owe them more than that. I have to tell them the truth.

I felt Harry grip my hand a bit tighter and I took my gaze off my friends to look at him. I gave him a reassuring smile and kissed his cheek.

"I'll be okay. You go to work and I'll talk to you later," I assured him.

He sighed as he glanced at the three girls staring at him and offered them a kind smile before turning his attention back to me. He put his free hand in his pocket and took something out. With his hand in a fist, he gestured for me to take whatever it was in his hands. I flashed a look at him, wondering what he was giving to me. It took me a second to realize what he had placed in my hand. It was my wedding ring.

"Speak soon. Take care, babe," he said to me with a wink in his eye. He looked back at Nat, Ivy and Avery one last time and gave them a wave goodbye.

I watched him walk away, keeping the ring in my hand, and walked towards my friends with my arms crossed in front of me. I looked away from them for a moment just to collect my thoughts and come out with some sort of response.

"We have a lot to talk about. Can we please just go back to the room and pack our stuff. I need to change out of these clothes and we need to check out still and I'm starving so..." I rambled on but they continued to stare back at me. "I'll explain everything. I promise. Just not here, please. Let's just go up to the room," I begged.

I turned around to the direction of the elevators without waiting to see their reaction. I already knew they'd be mad at me for that. I could hear them complaining and trying to get my attention as they strutted behind me. I really could not do this in the middle of the lobby with tons of people listening and watching. My private business needs to be just that; private. 

We rode the elevator in silence since some other hotel guests hopped into the lift with us. Once we got to our floor, we all stayed quiet as we walked to the suite. 

"Okay, Swift. Explain," Natalie ordered once we were all inside and the door was shut closed. I walked further into the living room and faced my best friends. Their eyes were all focused on me as I tried to look at each of them one at a time. 

"So..." I started as I took a deep breath. "Let me just start by saying that, Nat, I didn't mean to abandon you this weekend. I'm so sorry that I wasn't spending this weekend with you the way that we planned..." I trailed off and waited a bit to see if any of them would respond but when they didn't, I decided to continue. 

"The night we went to the strip club and I went to go find Harry... we ended up going to this bar. We had way too many drinks. And then... I guess, one thing led to another and..." I went on trying to stall the truth but there really wasn't any easy way to say what happened. 

"Harry and I got married."

It was silent for way too long and I looked at each other their expressions. When I thought they would start asking if I was crazy, they all just started laughing. 

I frowned at them and shook my head. "I'm not kidding."

It took them a few more seconds to realize that I was actually telling them the truth. Their expressions changed almost immediately.

"What the fuck, Taylor?!" Avery nearly shouted. 

"You got married?!" Natalie questioned.

"Wait, wait... so you got married to Harry, the stripper, that night and you didn't tell us after it happened?" Ivy spoke up, her face looking disappointed in me. 

"Okay, guys, yes. I didn't tell you guys yesterday because I was still in shock that it had happened. I didn't know what I was going to do. So, I decided to wait to talk to Harry about it last night."

"Were you going to tell us at all if we didn't run into you downstairs?" Avery asked, her voice sounding harsh.

"Yes! I was going to tell you, I just didn't want to ruin this weekend for Nat," I explained as I threw my hands in the air exasperatedly. "Listen, I didn't mean to keep this from you guys. I was going to tell you when we got home."

"And what's your plan now? From what we saw downstairs, you and Harry looked like a happy married couple," Ivy asked, being the most calm out of the three of them.

"We decided that we'd get to know each other and see where it goes from there," I answered.

"You, Taylor, don't do boyfriends. You do dudes," Avery pointed out. I knew that was going to come up. I decided not to respond to that statement yet. I knew that there would be doubt in me keeping a boyfriend. I doubted myself. But I don't want to think about that just yet.

"Why don't you just get this annulled or something? Can't you do that?" Natalie asked. 

"Harry and I... we talked about it. We went through our options and..." I started, hesitating to tell them that Harry and I planned on staying together. I'm worried that they won't take me seriously. They know me so well that the idea of me dating someone seriously sounded like a hilarious joke. 

"You want to stay together?" Ivy came to my conclusion. I nodded my head in response, causing Natalie and Avery to laugh out loud, again. At least it seemed that they weren't mad at me anymore. Just mocking my attempt at having a relationship, which is what I expected.

"Guys, it's not funny," I responded, letting out a small chuckle myself. "I'm surprised myself. But ever since I met him, I don't know. There's something about him. I like him. He's sweet and honest and so fucking sexy." 

"Taylor, how the fuck are you going to be married to a stripper in Vegas when you've got a life and a job in New York?" Avery questioned me, her voice toned down now and sounding more curious rather than confrontational.

"We'll be long distance for a little bit," I answered simply as I started to walk towards my room. I glanced at my phone to check the time, then back at my friends. "Come on, we've got to get checked out now and I'm starving and we made an appointment for the gun range. I'll answer the rest of your questions later."

The rest of them seemed to agree as they headed off to their own rooms. 

"Tay, your parents are going to kill you," Natalie pointed out. 

"I know." 

............

The rest of the day was filled with answering more questions about how the drunken wedding happened and what was going to happen with me and Harry. I told them all everything Harry and I had talked about. I wanted them to know everything so that they could understand where I was coming from. 

Of course, they had doubt about me being girlfriend material. They knew me better than I knew myself. The girlfriend part was something I had to learn, considering I've never been one before. Nat pointed out that Harry must have had a few serious relationships in the past. I've been wanting to ask him about his relationship history, but I never got the chance to. The fact that I'm wearing a pair of women's jeans that I got from Harry's closet meant that he's had women stay with him, but the seriousness was still a mystery. The ex-girlfriend topic has to be brought up sooner or later. 

We were now sitting in the airport after a fun session at the gun range. It was good to let out some frustrations by shooting at different targets. It also helped calm my nerves about coming home as a married woman. Of course, Nat, Avery and Ivy are the only people I want knowing about it. I figured my family have to know eventually, but not until I'm ready. And I'm nowhere near ready to tell them. 

Just as we started getting called to board our flight, Natalie reached her hand to me and smiled. "I know you feel guilty thinking you ruined my birthday weekend. But honestly, Tay... you got so wild that you got drunk and married a stripper."

I laughed at her comment and shrugged. "I guess I made it kinda memorable for you then, huh?"

"Definitely. Please tell me when we can let your secret out because I cannot wait to tell people about how on my 21st birthday in Vegas, my best friend fell in love with a stripper... Just like T-Pain," she said, laughing, which got Ivy and Avery to laugh and snicker along with her. I couldn't help myself, I laughed with them. 

"Shut the fuck up," I said in between my laughter on our way to our seats on the plane. "And sure, I guess, once it's okay to tell people, you'll be first to know. But I'm not in love with him. It's too soon for that. It's been like two days." 

"Not in love... yet," Natalie grinned while we settled into our seats.

I rolled my eyes at her as my phone buzzed. 

**Harry:** hey babe, how'd ur day go?

**Me:** was pretty good, miss u already though

**Harry:** glad to hear it, miss u too... so your friends.. they take the news well?

**Me:** yes, took some convincing but they understand now

"Texting your husband?" Ivy asked, sitting next to me on the plane.

I smirked at her and nodded. The flight attendant walking past stopped to scold me for having my phone on and I hurried to text Harry back before the flight took off.

**Me:** sorry babe, g2g.. call u when i land, promise.

I turned off my phone and found my wedding ring in my pocket. I realized I couldn't wear it when I got back to New York but I wanted to keep it on me at all times. I decided I'd find a necklace of mine and just place the ring in the necklace. 

"So what is your secret married name now? Mrs. Harry what?" Ivy asked, a curious smile on her face. 

"Styles," I responded, smiling back at Ivy. "Taylor Styles."


	15. Work

**Harry's POV**

After leaving Taylor with her friends, the day had gone by pretty fast. We got swamped in the afternoon, which took my mind off worrying about Taylor and how it went with her explaining what happened between us over the weekend. 

I've checked my phone periodically throughout the day to see if Taylor has texted me, but so far nothing. I figure she's preoccupied with her friends and decide to text her once I'm off work. 

As I'm heading out of the parking garage at the end of my shift, I catch Trey from the corner of my eye, though his hair has changed dramatically. What was once his natural dark and long hair yesterday is now a bleach blonde buzz-cut. I almost didn't recognize him at first until I saw his face.

"Trey," I call out, attempting to get his attention.

Trey turned around to see me walking up to him and I see his signature smirk on his face. He ran his hand over his short cropped hair and shrugged at me. I hadn't even asked him about the hair yet he already knew I was going to ask about it.

"You going all Eminem on me now, mate?" I ask with a laugh. 

"Nah, I was just chilling with some of the girls at the club and Cherry was dying her hair blonde," he started to explain, leaning against his car as he went on about how he changed his look. "She had some extra dye, and I was bored, so..." 

"It'll take some getting used to, but it looks sick, I'll give you that," I said with a nod. 

"You're telling me about getting used to something. You're the one who's a married man now," he reminded me, pointing at the ring on my finger. I looked down at the wedding ring that I had put back on my ring finger once Taylor had gone up with her friends to their rooms. I brought my hand up and took a longer look at my the ring. 

"It's definitely going to take getting used to. I guess we've both got something to celebrate now," I replied, chuckling. 

"You working the club tonight?" 

The instant Trey mentioned the club, I stopped and a wave of annoyance hit me. I completely forgot about working at the club tonight since I had been so immersed in my weekend with Taylor. 

"Shit, I almost forgot," I finally said in response, checking the time on my phone. Luckily, I've got a few hours until I have to get to the club since no one really goes to the strip club until it's at least past midnight. "I'm gonna catch some sleep at home and I'll meet you at the club."

"Alright, mate, see you there."

I wave goodbye to Trey and start heading to my own car. My thoughts are back to Taylor and I immediately text her hoping I catch her before she leaves for her flight. 

.........

The lights are dimmed as I stand backstage donned in my British Army uniform. It's been about six months of me wearing this costume and I already got sick of it a few days in. One of these days, I'm going to start asking to get a new routine for myself. But for now, I'll have to get myself back into my stage persona and go out there and entertain an audience. 

"Styles," I hear someone call my name and I turn around to see my manager, Terry, walking towards me. Terry's about a foot and a half shorter than me, his hair balding except for the sides, and it always seems like sweat is dripping from his forehead at all times. "I hear you got married over the weekend, kid. Congrats and all, but listen, I don't give a shit about your personal life. That thing on your finger has to go when you're out there." 

Before I could even get a word out, Terry is already marching away from me. I shake my head and sigh, pulling my ring off my finger yet again. I hesitate to put it in my pocket knowing I won't be wearing anything in about ten minutes. 

"Shit," I mutter to myself just as Trey comes over to me. "Hey, man, hold this for me while I'm out there?"

I hand over my ring to Trey just as my name is called out for my entrance. I hop up and down a few times and stretch myself out to hype myself up. After almost six months of performing out there and taking my clothes off, I still have to gain the courage every night. 

The song I chose starts playing, The Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", and I come out between the curtains and I can hear the crowd whooping and cheering. Taking a few steps forward on the stage, I start swinging my hips along to the beat of the song. My hands run down my torso and I lick my lips suggestively. 

The loud cheering I hear from several spots in the audience give me more adrenaline and I begin pulling off my coat. Revealing my bare chest, I start on the dance routine that I choreographed. I sway my hips, thrust my pelvis and flip my hair all over the place. I'm sweating from the dancing and the lights, which encourages everyone to cheer even louder. 

I pull my pants off, revealing me and my gold thong, and the crowd goes wild. For some reason, after being on stage and feeling the energy of the crowd, I'm never as nervous as I am before I get on stage. It feels good to hear the cheering and excitement and a wide smile appears on my face as I feel a rush going through me. 

My whole body is exposed, except for what's barely covered by the gold thong. The roar of the audience get more rambunctious once I finish my performance and I give them a gracious bow before I walk off the stage.

I feel a pat on my back and I turn to find Trey with my ring in his hand. He's dressed in his ensemble, a pirate resembling Captain Jack Sparrow, ready to go next right after me. 

"Thanks, mate."

"Hey, I forgot to mention, your ex has been hitting me up nonstop the past few days asking 'bout you. Thought I'd give you a heads up in case she's working downstairs tonight," Trey mentions casually, his attention focused mostly on himself as he checks himself out in the full length mirror. 

"Fuck," I hiss under my breath. I watch as Trey prepares himself to step out onto the stage and I grab a clean towel to wrap around myself. 

The mention of my ex left a bad taste in my mouth. The last time I saw her was a few months ago when I caught her in my fucking dressing room fucking her ex-boyfriend, who also happened to be another male stripper. 

It didn't surprise me, though, that she was trying to get to me through Trey. I had been getting voicemails and texts from her for the past few weeks that I just ignored and deleted. There was nothing she had to say that could change anything between us. What she did to me was irreversible and especially now that I have a potential future with Taylor, there's never going to be anything she could say or do to convince me to take her back. 

As I walk through the hallway and head for my dressing room, my phone rings and a picture of Taylor, that she had taken while in my car, lights up the screen. I smile to myself and hit the green button to answer the phone.

"Hey beautiful," I say into the phone to Taylor as I enter my dressing room. 

Suddenly, I see someone else sitting down inside. Long blonde hair. Long tan legs. Short black dress. Clear six inch platform heels. 

"Hi stranger."

"Rachel," I mumble quietly.

"Harry?" I hear Taylor's voice coming from my phone.

_Shit._


	16. Get Out

Rachel is the last person I want in my dressing room. The smile she was wearing appeared devious and I refused to get sucked into her world again. My face turned into a scowl and I made sure she saw my irate expression.

I put the phone back to my ear and turned my back to Rachel. I realize I have to explain to Taylor who Rachel is, but right now, all I want to do is get Rachel out of this room. And to do that, I had to get Taylor off the phone.

"I'm here, babe. Sorry. I hope your flight went well," I finally respond to Taylor.

"Yeah, I slept almost the entire time, or at least I tried to... the seats are so uncomfortable on airplanes," I hear her say before hearing her yawn into the phone. Her voice sounded tired and soft. It made me wish I could be right beside her to comfort her.

"It sounds so good to hear your voice," I begin, already dreading what I was about to say to her. "But, love, I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to call you back. I'll explain later. Bye, baby."

I could hear a quiet, yet confused, goodbye from the other line as I press the 'end call' button. I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath before turning back around to face my ex.

"Get out," I demand, refusing to look directly at her.

"Wow, you're being so impolite," she says as she gets up from the couch and starts strutting towards me. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"None of your fucking business, Rachel. Please leave," I continue to insist, a little bit nicer now, yet she doesn't seem to take my request seriously.

I don't want to talk about Taylor in front of her, it'll just give her something to dig her claws into and try to destroy. And I especially don't want to mention the fact that I'm married. All Rachel needs to know is that I'm not available. If she doesn't accept that, then it's her own problem.

"You haven't answered any of my phone calls. You haven't texted me back," she says, now standing closer to me. I can see her ocean blue eyes clearly now, leering into mine. "I miss you, baby."

"Don't fucking call me that, Rachel," I respond to her harshly immediately after hearing her last remark. "Can't you take a hint?"

It makes no sense to me why she still thinks she can talk to me the same way she did when we were together. It's been almost three months since I broke up with her and during those three months, I haven't kept in contact with her at all. I tried my best to avoid seeing her here at the strip club because even just being in the same building as her made me uneasy.

"Why are you being like this? I apologized and apologized. I'm sick and tired of you ignoring me. Please just let me explain," her voice sounded like a desperate whine and I rolled my eyes, aware that this was all just an act. "I'm sorry about what happened with Nick. I had a weak moment and he was here and I don't know what got into me. I told you I'm sorry. Why can't you forgive me?"

I shook my head at her and walked towards the door, opening it up and gesturing my hand towards the hallway. After a long day, I'm exhausted and I don't have the time or patience to have this confrontation with my ex-girlfriend.

"I don't want to hear it. You made your choice when you fucked Nick right here in this dressing room and you have the audacity to beg me to forgive you? Absolutely not. I'm with someone else now. You need to respect that and leave me alone."

The look in her eyes abruptly went wild upon hearing what I had to say and instead of heading through the doorway, she crept closer to me until her body was pressed against mine. Her fingers stroked my naked chest and I writhed beneath her touch. I looked away from her as I could feel her breath against my neck, smelling a whiff of whiskey and tobacco.

"Baby, I'm the best fuck you've ever had. Stop pretending that you don't want me back," she crudely spoke into my ear, her voice low and full of venom.

I stared icily into her eyes and backed away from her, baffled and disgusted by how she was acting towards me. Seeing her like this was disappointing. During our relationship, up until she cheated, she was sweet and loving. We had chemistry, though for the most part, that chemistry was mostly in bed. But her betrayal was the one and only strike I was willing to allow.

"Rachel, you're the one that fucked it up. You had me and you fucked me over," I snapped, disgusted and annoyed by the desperation she was exhibiting towards me. Her eyes dug into mine for a moment, not even wincing at my response. She then moved towards the doorway and I could hear her laugh.

"Fine, I'll go. But you can't get rid of me that easily, Styles. I don't care if you've got some new slut fucking you. I'll be back," she said, sounding amused as she flashed a fake smile at me. I was relieved to see her finally making her way out of my dressing room. Once she was completely out in the hallway, I didn't hesitate to slam the door. I reached for the door handle and made sure to lock it in case she decided to come back again.

Sighing, I pulled off the towel I was wearing and took off the my gold thong costume. I grabbed a pair of boxers and a shirt from my gym bag and put them on.

As I reached for my phone, I rubbed at my eyes and yawned, feeling exhausted from everything that's happened in the past twenty four hours. Not even the two hour nap I had before coming to work at the strip club was able to help and having Rachel bombard me made it even worse.

I laid across the couch, not having the energy to drive home for the night, and made myself comfortable. As much as I wanted to close my eyes and doze off, I couldn't do so without calling Taylor back.

Grabbing my phone, I pressed on her name and put the phone to my ear. The phone rang a few times and then went to her voicemail. I frowned upon hearing her voicemail greeting, wondering if she had just fallen asleep or wasn't near her phone. It's already morning in New York, but from the red eye flight that she just had, I couldn't blame her for sleeping in the rest of the morning.

Once the voicemail prompted me to speak, I cleared my throat.

"Hi Taylor, I just wanted to apologize about earlier. I'm sorry for hanging up on you. I just had an unfortunate situation to attend to... I told you I'd explain it to you. I'm going to get some sleep but I'll call you again when I'm up so we can talk about it. Hope you get some rest, babe. Talk to you soon."

Pressing the red button, I ended the message and stared at the picture I had of her. The smile on her face was enough to instantly lift my mood. I knew I had a lot to tell her, even though I wasn't looking forward to explain everything regarding Rachel. But as unpleasant as it would be to talk about her, it was necessary. I refuse to begin my relationship with Taylor with any secrets.

I reached to place my phone on the coffee table next to the couch and could suddenly feel my eyes close as I begin to fall asleep thinking about the breathtaking blonde I woke up with at the start of my day.


	17. Advice

The ringing of my phone disrupted my sleep and I groaned as I reached for it to answer whoever was calling me. Due to the fact that my dressing room has no windows, I have no sense of what time of day it is. It's just pitch black in the room, and aside from my ringtone, it's extremely quiet. It must be morning because the music from the club isn't thumping through the walls. I just hope that I haven't slept through all of my classes today. Thankfully it's study week, which means it's not really necessary to attend class.

With my one eye halfway open, I was able to peek at the screen of my phone to see who was calling. All I could see was Taylor's face and I instantly pressed the green button to answer. Though, I'm not fully awake, I don't want to miss her call. Especially if this isn't the first time she's called this morning.

"Hi, Taylor" I greeted her, my voice hoarse and dry.

"Hey," she answered. I could hear background noise on her side and I can tell she's in a public place.

"What are you up to?"

"I'm just on my lunch break. I decided to go into work this morning, which I'm regretting now," she explained as I sat up on my couch and rubbed my eyes. The only light I could see is from under my door. I put Taylor on speaker phone and gather up the energy to lift myself up from the couch to turn on the light, using my phone as a flashlight.

"So, I got your voicemail," she continued, her voice sounding curious. "You said you wanted to explain something? What was the unfortunate incident?"

Once I had the dressing room light on, I grabbed a bottle of water from my mini-fridge and sat back down on the couch. I took a big gulp of water before answering Taylor.

"Last night--well, this morning, I guess... whatever..." I started with a sigh, already struggling to explain myself. I blame my lack of sleep for not being able to form a coherent sentence. "My ex-girlfriend decided to invite herself into my dressing room and harass me for not answering her phone calls. I just walked in and found her sitting here and I knew she was up to something. That's when I was on the phone with you and hung up on you."

Taylor was quiet on the phone for a few seconds, but for me, each second seemed like ages. I took a deep breath and waited for her response.

"And did anything happen?"

"No!" I firmly responded. "Nothing happened. She begged for me to take her back and I profusely refused and told her I'm not available."

"What happened between you two? Why did you break up? How long ago? Were you guys serious?" I wasn't surprised to hear her ask me so many questions. I pretty much expected it once I told her about my ex.

"Uh," I paused, trying to remember which question came first. "She cheated on me with her ex about three months ago. I guess we were serious, to the point that I referred to her as my girlfriend and I was her boyfriend. But the most intimate we got was during sex."

"Were you in love with her?"

That question definitely took me by surprise, but now I realize I should have seen it coming. Did I ever love Rachel? I enjoyed her company, and I thought she enjoyed mine. There were times when I thought I could have a future with her, but for the most part, we were just having fun with each other.

"I wasn't in love with her. Lust, yeah. I probably could have fallen in love with her if we stayed together..." I trailed off, instantly regretting what I had just said.

Taylor took another long pause, probably reeling from the information I just gave her. Part of me wanted to take back everything I just said and just never have mentioned Rachel at all, but another part of me knew it'd be best to be honest.

"I don't want to seem like I'm... jealous... or that I'm prying for details," Taylor finally spoke up. I could hear her sigh into the phone. "I told you before. I'm new to this. I've never dealt with ex-girlfriends before... I guess I'm just glad that nothing happened. I mean, not that I thought you would have done anything..."

"I wouldn't do that to you," I insisted. "Rachel and I were over three months ago when she cheated on me. I might have had strong feelings for her before that. And I'm not going to lie, it hurt to have her betray me like that. But I got over it, I got over her."

"I believe you, Harry. It's so weird to trust someone like this. God, I've known you for like, 72 hours. This is insane. Nothing about our relationship is normal. But I trust you and I believe you," she told me, her words seemed rushed and she sounded out of breath. "I want to continue this conversation but I have to get back to work... I'll call you later?"

After hearing her tell me about how she trusted me and believed me, I wanted to say so much more to her and tell her I felt the same way. I decided to wait and save it for later when it was a better time for her.

"Yeah, we'll talk later," I answered her as casual as possible, as if she didn't just tell me what she just told me.

"Okay, bye Harry."

"Bye Taylor."

..........

**Taylor's POV**

 

My conversation with Harry was running through my mind the whole rest of the day after hanging up with him. Hearing him talk about his ex-girlfriend made me feel oddly jealous and suspicious. Not suspicious of Harry, but suspicious of the ex. Suddenly, I wanted to find out for myself what this Rachel girl was like. Unfortunately, being thousands of miles away from Harry and this ex-girlfriend, I was kind of at a disadvantage.

I want to be able to talk to Harry about this, but all I have to say to him are more questions. Questions about Rachel, other ex-girlfriends, if he's ever been in love before. My mind was reeling with so many questions and I decided I didn't want to bombard him with them and ask the wrong thing.

By the time I was done with work, I realized that what I needed to do was to get advice. I hate asking for advice, but this is kind of an emergency. The first person that came to mind was my sister, Cassidy. 

**Me:** hey cass, u free tonight?

 **Cassidy:** yeah i'm at home... you wanna come over?

I almost regretted asking her now that she was inviting me over. I really don't want to go to my sister's house in New Jersey today. I still don't know why she and her husband decided to move to the suburbs when Manhattan is a perfectly good place to raise kids. But then I remembered that she's six months pregnant and that I'm actually desperate at this point.

 **Me:** why do you have to live in new jersey?????

 **Me:** i'll be there in an hour

After leaving my office, I hailed a cab to take me to the Port Authority terminal so I could take the bus into New Jersey. I hate having to take public transportation, but being a New Yorker, I don't really need a car in the city. I mostly rely on the subway, taxis and my own two feet. It's only at times like these when I wish I had other ways to travel.

The bus ride took longer than usual, but at least it gave me a chance to think. I thought about whether I had gotten myself into something I shouldn't have. I knew that getting married was a mistake, but is _staying_ married an even bigger mistake?

I decided not to tell my sister about me being married to Harry just yet. Actually, it's probably better that I just not tell her much information about how I met Harry and where Harry lives. She'll just end up asking more questions than I can deal with and I won't get the advice I'm actually looking for.

The bus passed through the many suburbs of New Jersey and I almost fell asleep before it finally reached my stop. I hastily got off the bus and struggled as I tried to remember which way to go from there. I've only taken the bus to this area a handful of times. The bus stop is a only a few blocks away from my sister's house and I walked through the quiet neighborhoods as the sun began to set in the distance. I considered calling Harry to keep me company during the walk, but decided against it. I want to talk to him when I've gotten Cassidy's advice and decide what to say to him.

Once I reached my sister's house, I knocked on the door and waited for her to let me in. I can hear through the door the shrill screams of my adorable niece and my sister yelling at me, telling me that she's coming.

The door opened and my sister appeared with her daughter in one arm and a stuffed animal in the other. Both my three-year-old niece, Sophia, and my sister's pregnant belly have gotten much bigger since the last time I saw her and I immediately regret not visiting as often as I should.

"Hey sis," Cassidy said as she grinned at me. I returned her smile as she pulled me into a hug and I wrapped my arms around both her and Sophia.

"Hi, Cass. Hi, Soph!" I nearly squealed in excitement as I picked up the blonde haired child, tickling her as I held her. Hearing her giggle was like music to my ears.

I stepped into Cassidy's home and followed her into their kitchen with Sophia in my arms and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Want some coffee or cake? I just baked some red velvet cupcakes," she said excitedly, already placing the cupcakes on the table.

"Yes and yes, please," I answered, reaching for one of the cupcakes.

Cassidy placed a mug in front of me and poured coffee into it as I started to bite into the cupcake. She gave me an inquisitive look and I could tell she knew something was up.

"Okay, what's going on, baby sis? You didn't come all the way to Jersey just to eat some cupcakes."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked with a scoff, pretending to be offended. She rolled her eyes and sat down across from me. "Okay, I... I need your advice."

"Advice about what?"

"About... relationships."

Cassidy let out a laugh and I frowned at her. Why do people think it's so funny that I could actually be in a relationship?

"I'm serious! Please... you know I'm desperate when I take the fu-" I stopped myself, almost forgetting about the tiny human in the room. " _Fudging_ bus into New Jersey."

"Wow, I never thought I'd live to see the day that my baby sister would come to me to ask for relationship advice," she said, smirking at me. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes at her.

"I know. I'm surprised, myself."

"So, tell me about him. What's his name?"

"His name is Harry. He's British... he's a business major in college," I started to tell her as much as I knew about him without revealing the fact that he's a male stripper in Vegas. I really was itching to just get straight to the point and tell her about the ex-girlfriend issue that really brought me to ask for her advice.

"Okay, so what's so special about him that got you, Taylor 'I don't do boyfriends' Swift, to commit to a relationship?"

I glared at her for a moment before sighing and running my hands through my hair. That would take a lot more explaining and details that I wasn't about to divulge to her, especially with Sophia in the room. I should have known she'd give me an interrogation once I told her. I took a bite of my cupcake and a sip of coffee before I let myself continue.

"There's just... something about him. He's not like any other guy I've messed around with," I shrugged as I tried to explain. We still barely know much about each other but from the moment I met Harry, I felt some kind of connection towards him. "He's sweet and romantic. Like, he's genuinely a good guy. I feel like he's too good for me and I'm afraid I'm going to mess this up."

"Why are you afraid about messing up?"

"Because I've never had a serious relationship before. And he's had girlfriends and relationships. Including a recent ex-girlfriend that's still trying to get into his pants."

"I think it's impressive that this guy is having such an effect on you. I need to meet this guy."

"Cass, help me here. We haven't known each other long," I admitted. "But he told me today that his ex-girlfriend came to see him and tried to ask for him back. He said he rejected her and that he doesn't have feelings for her anymore."

"And do you believe him?"

"I do. I don't know why, but I do."

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is that I want to ask him more about his past and relationship history, but I don't want to pry and seem like I'm like this jealous or possessive kind of girlfriend. I just want to know more about him and not push him away."

Cassidy grinned at me and I raised my eyebrow at her, wondering what it was I said that was so amusing.

"What?!" I questioned her.

"Tay, you sound like someone in love."

I froze for a moment and then shook my head. It's not possible to be in love with someone so fast. That's foolish and unrealistic and irresponsible. Who the fuck falls in love in 3 days?

"I am _not_ in love."


	18. Wisdom

"Fine, Tay, deny it if you want. But as someone who has known you your entire life, I have never seen you like this. Not even when you were in middle school and you had a crush on little Bobby Jacobs. And in high school when Mom caught you making out with Joey Carter in your bedroom," Cassidy said as she snickered, remembering some embarrassing moments of my past.

"Please don't mention any of that again," I laughed, shaking my head. "Okay, seriously though, I don't know how I feel about him. Whether it's a crush or lust or the other l-word," I continued, trying not to use the word 'love' anymore for the rest of the conversation.

"Oh, it's the l-word now?"

"Yes, I'm banning the real word. No using it in regards to anyone but this little nugget here that I love so so much," I said as I hugged Sophia tighter. Sophia softly giggled again and I kissed the top of her head.

"Well, it's getting late so I'm going to tuck her into bed, but this conversation is not over," Cassidy sternly warned me as she reached for her daughter. I playfully pouted at her as I was forced to let my niece go.

"Alright, goodnight Soph. Auntie Tay loves you," I said sweetly to Sophia.

"Night Tee Tay," Sophia gushed, calling me by her nickname for me since she didn't know how to say Auntie Tay yet. I smiled to myself while Cassidy brought her daughter up to her bedroom. If I ever have kids, I would want mine to be just like Sophia. She's quiet and adorable with her gorgeous blue eyes and precious angelic smile.

It took a second for me to snap back to reality. How did the idea of having kids come into my head?

I sighed as I grabbed my phone from my purse to check my messages. Two texts from Harry.

**Harry:** hey, hope your day went well :)

**Harry:** i feel like we need to finish our convo... please call me when u get a chance?

I stared at my phone with the cursor blinking in the text field as I tried to think about what to say to him. Of course, I needed to call him back, but I'm still too nervous about what to say to him. As I hear Cassidy shuffling around upstairs, I quickly text Harry back.

**Me:** hey, i'm visiting my sister tonight but i'll call you as soon as i can

Cassidy made her way down the stairs and back into the kitchen after a few minutes as I finished my cupcake. I tucked my phone away back in my purse and took another sip of my coffee.

"Sorry, I had to check on Owen, too. He's started teething," she stated, talking about her one and a half year old son, Owen. "Back to our conversation," Cassidy insisted, sitting back down in her chair.

"Hey, where is your charming doctor husband?" I asked, wondering where my brother-in-law was at this hour.

"He's working the night shift at the hospital. Don't try to change the subject. We're talking about you and your new boyfriend."

I scowled at her for a second as I leaned my elbows against the table.

"I'm not in love," I repeated myself. "But I guess you're right. I do like him. I like him a lot."

"Maybe you just don't know what it actually feels like to be in love."

"Okay, then how do you know if you're in love?"

Cassidy took a deep breath and stared out the window. She smiled and looked back at me.

"Your heart will beat really fast when he's near... or even when you just hear his voice or reading his texts. When he's holding you and you just wanna fall apart in his arms. When he talks to you and you don't have a doubt in your mind that he's telling you the truth. And when he kisses you, it's not the same as when you've kissed anyone else. You're kissing to exchange affection, not just because you want to make out. When you're in love, you just know. Even if you deny it to yourself or to everyone else. You'll know."

As Cassidy described her version of being in love, I thought about Harry and if any of these situations qualified. If I'm being honest with myself, I can see those things happening with Harry. When we were laying in his bed yesterday and he was holding onto me, I was completely comfortable and relaxed. I've never been the kind to cuddle in bed, yet with Harry, that's all I wanted to do.

"I guess time will tell," I said simply, smiling at my older sister.

It was kind of sweet that the way she described being in love was how she felt with her husband. They had been together since they met their freshman year in college and never looked back. Their relationship with each other has been the only one I've actually enjoyed watching grow. Probably since it's my older sister and for as long as I've been alive, I've admired everything she's done.

"If you're not ready to admit it, that's okay," she said encouragingly. "Do you think he's in love with you?"

"I don't know. Maybe?" I answered, thinking about how Harry would look at me and just smile. There was even the time when I swear he was going to say it, but I stopped him from doing so.

"Taylor, I think you just need to relax. Let this play out naturally. You don't have to be in control of everything. I know you pride yourself in being carefree and reckless when it comes to guys, but if you really like this guy, give it a chance. And the ex-girlfriend thing... everyone's got a past. Don't let that scare you away just because you're the exception."

I listened carefully as I took my sister's words to heart. Harry has expressed more than once that he's committed to this relationship so I shouldn't be afraid of some ex-girlfriend.

"How did you get to be so wise?"

"You'll gain some wisdom too, especially once you're married, trust me," she replied, getting up from her seat. I was in the middle of finishing my cup off coffee and almost spat out my drink when I heard what she said. Stifling a laugh, I covered my mouth and grabbed a napkin to hide my face.

"What's so funny?"

Her brows furrowed as she searched my face for a reason why I reacted the way I did.

"Nothing, just thought of something funny," I lied.

"Okay..." Cassidy responded slowly, still sounding a little suspicious, but her face eased up in seconds. "Well, do you want to stay over tonight? You can go back to the city in the morning,"

I nodded my head in response, deciding that it was already late and I'd really rather not take a bus at this time at night.

After borrowing some pajamas from Cassidy, I headed over to their guest room and sat down on the bed. Harry was waiting for my call and I knew we'd both feel better if we talked this through.

Instead of calling him, I decided to facetime so that I could at least see his face. A few seconds passed before Harry's face came up on my phone screen. He smiled at me right away and I instantly perked up.

"Hi babe," he greeted me, waving one of his hands towards the camera.

"Hey, Harry. I'm sorry about the phone call earlier today. I was just caught off-guard hearing about your ex approaching you. It just kind of came out of nowhere."

"I know, I'm sorry to just throw that at you. But I thought I'd let you know as soon as it happened, y'know? No secrets."

"I'm glad you told me and that you're being honest with me," I assured him. "I just hope that you'll be patient with me... I'm going to be asking questions. It's just me trying to understand everything. I think it's just me being genuinely curious about your past and if you've ever been in love before. I'm just trying to get to know you better."

I watched Harry on the screen as he nodded his head and bit down on his bottom lip. His pause made me wonder if I said something wrong.

"I've never been in love before," he finally spoke up.

I was confused by his statement. How could he have not been in love? He's been in relationships, hasn't he?

"You've never been in love? Not with any of your exes?"

"You make it sound like I've had like, dozens of girlfriends," he said with a chuckle.

"No, I don't mean it like that. But your previous relationships, weren't they serious?"

"I've had maybe one or two relationships where I thought it'd get to that point. There's just never been that spark. We'd get along well enough to enjoy each others' company. The sex is probably the most intimate parts of my past relationships, but it was just that. Just sex. So I stand by my previous statement. I've never been in love before."

For some reason, I was comforted in knowing that Harry hasn't ever been in love either. It actually made me a little happy to know that he wasn't in love with the ex that tried to get him back last night. It meant that he wasn't as emotionally tied to her as I initially thought.

"I'm not gonna lie. It's kind of a relief to hear you say that," I tell him, a small smile on my lips. "You've probably already figured out that I've never been in love either."

"It seems like we've both got the same problem in common, then."

"Seems that way, Mr. Styles," I chuckled and Harry smiled wider.

"You look beautiful tonight, by the way," Harry complimented me and I felt my face warm up. He had a way of making me blush, the way that I was used to doing to guys.

"Thank you. You look pretty great yourself tonight," I returned his compliment, noticing how the curls of his hair were tucked away by a beanie on his head. I could tell he was sitting in his bedroom because the background looked very familiar.

"If only you were here with me right now," he sighed as he pulled off his beanie and stretched out his arms.

I pursed my lips at him and breathed deeply. "Hm, and what would you do with me if I was there with you right now?"

"For starters, I'd be taking off all your clothes..."


	19. Abstinence

I dragged myself further up on the bed and leaned against the headboard with my hands holding my phone tightly to keep it still while I facetimed with Harry. I raised my eyebrow at Harry after hearing his rather suggestive comment about what he'd do if I was with him.

Initially, I had the urge to flirt right back, knowing full well what this would lead to. But then I thought about what we were just talking about regarding Harry's old relationships. Sex was a big part, if not the most substantial part, of both of our dating histories. While Harry was actually in relationships with girls he had sex with, I could barely remember the names of the guys I've fucked. But if neither of those situations worked out for us, then maybe this time, we need to consider a different approach.

"No, no, Styles," I responded with a shake of my head. "My clothes are staying on tonight. No phone sex," I continued, my tone firm, which caused Harry to frown almost instantly. His eyebrows scrunched together and his lips were in a full pout, forcing me to stifle out a laugh.

"What? Why not?"

"Listen, Harry, think about what we were just talking about. You just said that your relationships were based on sex. That's why they didn't last," I began to explain myself, noticing the features on Harry's face were slowly easing. "You're not going to like what I'm going to suggest, fuck, part of me doesn't even like it... I think if we don't have sex for a while and just talk to each other... then we'll find out if this whole thing is going to work out. Maybe it's a good thing that we're so far away from each other. We wanna get to know each other better, then let's do that."

"Interesting suggestion. Abstinence, huh?" Harry spoke up with one finger pressed on his lips.

"I hate that word, but yes. Abstinence. I told you that you wouldn't like it."

"No, it's not that," he smiled. "I actually quite like this idea. It's like we're doing everything backwards. We got married, had sex, and now we're dating."

His point of view prompted me to smile right back at him.

"Exactly. Personally, if this was a different situation, I'd be getting naked for you the second you asked," I teased him with a wink. I watched as he laughed and shook his head at me, causing his dimples that I enjoyed so much to appear on his flushed cheeks.

"Sex or no sex, I still wish you were here."

"Me too," I sighed deeply.

After a quiet moment of just looking into each other's eyes, we started talking about the kind of day we had.

Harry told me about missing his first class this morning and how he spent a few hours in the library studying for his final exams. He was so passionate talking about his business classes and the kind of work he wanted to do when he graduated. It made me feel a sense of pride for him that he was reaching this next achievement in his life. I could tell by the way he talked about school that he put a lot of hard work into getting his degree. Especially since he also had to work two jobs while he went to school full time to pay for his rent and student loans.

During our talk about college graduation, I decided at that moment that I wanted to be there to see him graduate. When he talked about being able to walk across the stage at graduation to accept his diploma, I immediately had a strong urge to be there to cheer him on. I would have to fly in for the weekend and surprise him, which made me really excited. I decided to keep it a secret from him and I made a mental note to book a flight as soon as I could.

As we continued to talk, we eventually transitioned into talking about our families and laughed about how cute our nieces and nephews were, exchanging stories about each of them. When I mentioned how Sophia couldn't pronounce Auntie properly, Harry told me that his nieces and nephews would call him Uncle Arry instead of Uncle Harry.

At this point, I was fully tucked under the sheets with my head buried in pillows, and laying on my side to make sure Harry could still see me. I unintentionally yawned and could feel my eyelids getting heavier.

"What time is it?"

"It's midnight here. I think that means it's 3am for you," Harry answered, his voice quieter now. "Sorry I'm keeping you up late, babe."

"Don't be sorry, I don't want to hang up yet but I didn't realize how sleepy I was," I pouted.

"Please, get some sleep. We'll talk tomorrow."

"No, keep talking to me. I wanna keep listening to your voice," I asked, wondering if that was a strange request. "You can hang up on me when I start snoring," I added, chuckling.

"Alright, babe. I'll keep talking. Speaking of snoring, nobody will ever snore as loud as Trey does. I swear, I can hear him from the other side of the flat on some nights and it drives me mad..."

I hear Harry still talking to me yet I feel my eyes close and I'm comforted by the soothing sound of Harry's voice as I doze off.

.....

My alarm rang loudly and obnoxiously the next morning and I shuffled through the sheets to find my phone, grabbing onto my phone charger that was attached to pull my phone into my hands. I shut off the alarm as quickly as I could and noticed that the facetime screen was still on. All I could see was the ceiling of Harry's bedroom and I realized that Harry must have kept our connection on the whole entire night.

"Harry," I whispered into the phone, wondering if he'd even hear me. I didn't want to wake him if he was in a deep sleep, but I didn't want to just hang up on him, either. "Harry," I repeated myself again, now a little louder.

"Mm," I could hear his muffled voice and watched as the image on the screen moved. Harry's eyes opened sleepily, his lips slowly curving into a smile. "Morning."

"Sorry to wake you," I said, my voice still quiet.

"S'okay," he murmured and I smiled to myself as I watched Harry struggle to gain consciousness.

"I just wanted to tell you I have to hang up. I've got to head back to the city and get ready for work," I explained. "Go back to sleep. I'll call you later."

"Alright," he sighed. "By the way, love... you don't snore," Harry added as his eyes shut again.


	20. Bar Night

Harry and I followed a routine the next few days after our first facetime session with each other. We'd text during the day and facetime at night, keeping the connection on even as we slept. After the first night, I indicated to Harry that I enjoyed falling asleep to his voice. It was nice to just have him there and he agreed that he felt the same way. When I'm at home, I'd constantly have him with me even while doing things such as cooking dinner and watching TV while he's studying for his exams. 

At night, we managed to get so deep in conversation that we disclosed almost everything about ourselves to each other, even things we've never told anyone else. Neither of us held anything back. I've told him when and who I lost my virginity to, when I had a pregnancy scare my junior year of college, when I almost fell apart completely the year my parents separated and how happy I was when they reunited, and everything in between. 

Harry told me about each girlfriend he's ever had, describing what went wrong and why they broke up. Some topics were easier for us to talk about or listen to than other topics, but it helped us better understand each other. In a way, it was like we had just taken a crash course in each other.

It's now Friday and it's officially been one week since Harry and I first met. It's pretty unbelievable that in one week, my entire life has changed.

"Avery's texting me again," I mentioned to Harry. 

**Avery:** plz come out with me for drinks 2night? your husband has to learn how to share :P

"She's still begging you to go out?" 

"Yeah..." I said, trailing off. Harry stared at me through the screen, waiting for me to explain why I was hesitant to go. "I mean, normally, I'd jump at the chance to go out. It's practically tradition for us to go to bars on Friday nights. It's just that... the whole purpose is to go out and meet random guys to take home."

Harry chuckled while he ran a hand through his hair. I could see that he was lying on his bed, still in his bellhop uniform. "Babe, it's okay if you go just to hang out with your friend."

"You're sure?" 

"Yes. Besides, I told you, I'm going to be at work tonight anyway," he pointed out as I remembered yet again that his night job consisted of taking his clothes off in front of people. "What else were you planning on doing tonight?"

I sighed and realized how right he was. "I considered just spending the night in bed watching movies on Netflix."

Harry smirked at me and shook his head. "Please, go have fun with Avery," he insisted. "Just don't bring some guy home," he added jokingly, giving me a playful wink. 

...............

"Two vodka tonics please," Avery asked the bartender from across the counter, handing him her credit card to start a tab. She turned to me as we took our seats at the bar and grinned widely. I could tell how excited was to have me out with her. I was happy to be able to spend time with her, too. Even though I'm spending most of my time with my husband who lives on the other side of the country, I realized I couldn't just give up hanging out with my best friends. 

"Ave, thanks for dragging me out," I said to her as the bartender placed our drinks in front of us. I took the drink in my hand and took a sip of the cold liquid. 

"Of course, Taylor. I know you're in your honeymoon stage right now, like literally..." she responded, laughing lightly. "I thought you could use a night out. How's it going, anyway? The long distance thing? You guys having some wild video chat sex?" 

I could see the mischievous look in her eyes as her lips formed a sly smile. "It's a long story, but no... there's no wild video chat sex," I responded to her last question first because I could tell she was about to burst from the anticipation of finding out how it was. 

"But everything's been great so far. We're in contact constantly. Sometimes we'll have deep conversations about our lives or even just things going on in the world. Other times, we'll be joking around and laughing with each other. He's... I don't know. He's amazing."

Avery looked back at me and tilted her head slightly. Her eyes peering into mine and it seemed like she was studying my face. 

"Taylor..." she began, taking a big gulp of her vodka tonic. "I cannot fucking believe you're married," she continued with a laugh.

I laughed along with her and shrugged. "Hey, I'm just glad that I got married to Harry and not some asshole."

"Okay, but seriously now... He might be an awesome guy, but are you really staying married?" 

"Yes," I responded quickly, which seemed to surprise Avery by the look on her face. "We're giving it a chance. We've both had a shitty relationship history and we decided that we might as well give this a go and see where it takes us."

"That's crazy, but hey, if you're happy, then I'm happy," she said as she grabbed her glass and raised it. "To married life."

I raised my glass and clinked it with hers, smiling back at her. I was relieved at how supportive she was being. After confessing to her, Ivy and Natalie about getting married to Harry, we didn't really go further into detail about what they thought about my situation. I think they thought that it wasn't going to last past the weekend and I'd change my mind the moment we got home.

"Thank you," I said to her after taking a sip. "Besides, now there's more guys for you to choose from now that I'm out of the playing field."

"Ooh, you are right about that," she responded cheerfully as she started to take a glance around the bar to see if there were any guys that caught her eye. "Now you'll just be my wingwoman."

"Gladly!" 

We laughed with each other and finished our first round of drinks just as our next round of drinks were sent to us. 

"These are from those guys over there," the bartender stated when he placed the drinks down, pointing to two guys across the bar from us. 

One of them looked very familiar. Blonde hair with dark brown roots, pale skin, and blue eyes. 

He started to walk around the bar towards us and I looked back at Avery in a panic.

"Shit, that's the guy I fucked last week before we left for Vegas," I said in a rushed voice.

"Hey, Taylor," he said with a sheepish smile as I recognized his Irish accent. His redheaded friend stood beside him and gestured a wave.

"Uh, hi... Dan, right?"

His smile perked up and he nodded his head. "Yeah, from last week. I thought you would've forgotten about me by now," he laughed nervously. 

"I'm Teddy, by the way," his friend offered his hand to shake, his accent sounded British. 

"I'm Taylor and this is Avery," I said in response as both Avery and I shook his hand. 

"So, uh, how've you been? I never heard from you after last week..." Dan questioned, his eyes searching my face.

I wasn't exactly sure how to casually say 'oh, good, I've just gotten married to a stripper in Vegas at a wedding chapel'. 

"Oh, she's been busy," Avery snickered. I glared at her for a second, feeling bad that I might have gotten this guy's hopes up. 

Both of the guys' faces looked confused, but Dan still looked hopeful to get an explanation from me.

"I'm so sorry, Dan, I..." I started to stammer out a response and noticed his expression changing from curious to discouraged. 

Most guys I've had one night stands usually ended up leaving it that way. It was sweet that Dan was putting some kind of effort to make it more than that. 

"Listen, you seem like a really nice guy, and I'm not saying that to sound cliché ," I began to explain myself. "It's just that, I'm actually with someone now..."

Dan seemed kind of surprised for a moment but shrugged it off, nodding his head in response. "Oh, alright. I see," he mumbled. "It's been like a week, though?"

"Yeah, it was kind of unexpected," I responded, offering an apologetic smile towards him.

"Hey, you guys seem nice, why don't you hang out with us for a drink," Avery spoke up as she took a glance between me and the two men in front of us. I nodded my head in agreement and offered them to sit next to us. 

"Yeah, we'd love to," his friend Teddy replied cheerfully in agreement as he patted Dan on the shoulders and took a seat next to Avery. Dan still seemed a bit disappointed for a moment until Teddy passed him a glass of dark beer.

Dan willingly accepted the beer and took a hearty swig as he turned to me. "So, who's the lucky guy?"


	21. Friends

"His name is Harry," I responded to Dan, smiling as I said his name. 

I could hear Avery talking and laughing with Dan's friend Teddy and I felt a little awkward having to talk to the guy I had sex with the night before I got married. 

"I could tell you really like the guy, you won't stop smiling," Dan pointed out to me as he took another sip of his beer. It sounded like he was disappointed about it and I wondered if he thought that our one night together was going to lead to something more. 

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to like, rub it in your face," I apologized. 

His light blue eyes looked into mine as I watched him take a deep breath. He paused for a moment before shaking his head.

"You're not rubbing it in my face. It's okay. I just thought we hit it off that night. But then you kinda just bailed the next morning and then never called me back..." he finally responded. "I guess I should've taken that as a hint that you weren't interested. Fuck, I sound like such an idiot..."

I was almost at a loss for words when he explained how he felt after that morning. Suddenly, I felt bad about how I had treated him. I've done the same thing to so many guys, but I never put myself in their perspective. I've always just left it as it was and didn't expect anything afterwards.

"Stop. You're not an idiot," I replied sincerely. "The problem's not you. It's me."

He looked at me reluctantly but finally broke a smile. 

"You're way out of my league, so yeah, maybe you are the problem," he laughed nervously. 

I let out a small laugh and rolled my eyes at him, feeling the tension break now. 

"Shut up. You're a cute guy, Dan. You can get any other girl here you like. Sweet, good looking, you care about calling someone back after hooking up..." I told him as he nodded his head and shrugged. "Don't let me being an asshole ruin it for you."

"Thanks, Taylor. I kinda needed that," Dan said, his expression looked more upbeat now. He picked up his glass from the counter and raised it towards me. "Friends?"

I smiled and nodded my head as I picked up my glass and clinked it gently against his. "Friends."

.......

Avery and I spent the rest of the night talking and laughing with Dan and Teddy at the bar. Teddy was quite a storyteller and we couldn't stop laughing at every funny story he had to tell. Before I knew it, it was already 2 AM and I somehow found myself drunk and tired at the same time. 

We all hopped into a cab to take us back to our apartments, dropping off Dan first since he lived closest. I made sure to take his number so that I could invite him and Teddy to hang out again. I didn't realize it till tonight that I don't really have any male friends and I got along so well with both him and Teddy. I also made a mental note to introduce Dan to Natalie, who just so happens to be one of those girls who always ask where all the good guys in New York are. 

The cab stopped at my apartment building next and I said goodbye to Avery and Teddy. I'm not sure if I'm seeing things in my drunken state, but before I got out of the cab, I was pretty sure I saw Teddy's hand creeping up Avery's thigh and Avery grinning like an idiot as she stared back at Teddy. I giggled to myself as I stood on the sidewalk in front of the building entrance. 

"They're totally gonna fuck tonight," I said out loud to no one in particular as the cab drove away.

The doorman held the door open for me and I waved at him enthusiastically.

"Ms. Swift," he addressed me as I walked through the door with a gentle nod of his head.

"It's Mrs. Styles, now, Charles. Call me Mrs. Styles... I'm a married woman now!" I exclaimed loudly and throwing my hands in the air. I stumbled through the lobby and headed towards the elevators, not waiting for a response from my building's doorman.

I don't know how, but I managed to make my way to my room and into my bed, still in the same clothes I went out with. Now that I was in bed, I was too tired to actually get up and change. 

I pulled my phone closer to me and started to swipe through my contacts. Everything looked blurry and I had to put the phone closer to my face so I could see better. When I found Harry's name and picture, I pressed on the phone icon and started to hear it ring.

"Hi babe," Harry said on the other line once he picked up the phone. 

"Hiiiii baby," I responded, my voice quiet yet eager.

I could hear him chuckle in response.

"Tay, are you drunk?"

"Mayyybe," I answered with a giggle.

"Where are you?"

"In my bed. My lonely, empty bed."

"You must have had fun at the bar with Avery."

"Yes, lots of fun. With Dan and Teddy, too," I said, mentioning my new friends.

"Who are Dan and Teddy?" He asked, his voice now sounded anxious.

"Just some friends," I replied casually. "I don't wanna talk about them. I wanna talk about you."

Harry was quiet for a second before he spoke up again. "What about me?"

"Harry, I want you. I want you here in my bed right now. I want you so fucking bad."

"Baby, you know I want you, too," I could hear him sighing into the phone. 

"I want your body next to me right now... I want you to take my clothes off and rub your hands all over my bare skin..." 

"Tay, we agreed not to do this..." 

I sighed and stared at the bright screen on my phone. I started to feel my face get warmer and I placed my hands on my cheeks, almost startled by a wet touch against my fingers.

"I miss you," I said softly, laying my head down on my pillow. I could feel my weary eyes start to close.

"I miss you, too, babe. I'm sorry I'm not there with you right now, but I promise as soon as I walk off that stage at graduation, I'll be on the next flight to New York to be with you..."

I could hear Harry's voice as he continued to talk. 

"Mm, I can't wait..." I weakly whispered in response. I could barely hear myself talk, my voice was so quiet. I could feel my consciousness fading. "I love you, Harry."


	22. Soon

**Harry's POV**

After convincing Taylor to go out for drinks with her friend Avery, I headed out to the strip club. Trey convinced me to come early to the club so we could celebrate the end of final exam week. I had taken my last exam already and it felt really good knowing I was done. Graduation day is just around the corner and then I'll be able to go to New York to be with Taylor.

I walked into the strip club and texted Trey to ask him where he was. It only took a few minutes to find him sitting at a booth watching the female strippers put on their show. I walked over to him and sat down at the booth.

"Styles, can you believe we got through college?" Trey asked with a upbeat laugh as he stretched out his hand for me to high-five.

"It's kind of hard to believe after all the shit we've gone through," I answered him, nearly yelling so that he could hear me over the music playing through the speakers. I looked over to the stage and saw Trey's fuckbuddy Cherry doing her routine, her blonde hair all in a disarray and glitter stuck all over her skin. She had a nice body, but I really couldn't see anything too special about her. I looked back at Trey and he looked as disinterested as I was watching her.

"Drinks on me tonight, man. What'll you have?" Trey offered as he stood up.

"Ah, I'll have a scotch, neat," I answered him before he walked away towards the bar.

I checked my phone to see if Taylor had contacted me at all and so far, there were no messages. I really was happy that she went out with her friend tonight. I didn't want to take up all of her time and have her miss out on spending time with her friends.

We've spent nearly every waking moment communicating with each other. In fact, we even slept at night on the phone, just to have the comfort of hearing each other breathing through the night.

"Scotch neat," Trey said as he handed me a glass.

"Cheers," I nodded my head towards Trey and took a sip.

"So I think we're all set for the graduation party. I'm ordering fucking loads of liquor and food. It's gonna be sick," he informed me of the plans he made for the graduation party we were throwing. We had the idea for this party for months now and we both were excited about it.

"Thanks for taking care of all of it. Just let me know what I owe you for my half," I responded as I set my drink on the table.

"Is the missus gonna be hanging out with us?" Trey asked, finishing his second beer that he's had since I got here.

"Nah, she's not coming out here. She told me how busy she'll be next week. Besides, I'm gonna be heading out there the day after graduation."

Trey nodded his head and placed his focus back on the stage as Cherry was twirling around on the pole.

Once Trey and I finished our little celebration, we went on with the rest of our night at work. First was the group routine where all the male dancers hyped up the crowd. Then came all the solo performances.

I went back to my dressing room after finishing up my routine. It felt so good to lay on my couch after such a long day.

My eyes were about to shut when I heard my phone ring. Taylor's face appeared on the screen and I answered it right away.

"Hi babe," I greeted her immediately.

"Hiiii baby," I could hear her say in a soft melodic voice, causing me to let out a laugh. She sounded happy, but I could tell she was far from sober.

"Tay, are you drunk?"

"Mayyybe," she said in the same melodic tone which ended with her giggling into the phone. It made me smile to hear that sound come from her. It sounded like she's had quite a night with Avery at the bar.

"Where are you?" I asked curiously, hoping she would be able to get home safely in her state. Luckily, Taylor told me that her and her friends don't have cars to get around the city and mostly depended on cabs when they had nights like these.

"In my bed. My lonely, empty bed," I could hear her breathe out.

Fuck. Hearing her talking about being alone in her bed made me want to get to New York sooner rather than later. Despite the fact that we agreed on abstaining from sex for a bit, I just wanted to be near her.

Of course, ever since the agreement, I've been hornier than ever. I didn't mention it to Taylor, but there'd be a few times this past week when she fell asleep before me and I just had to rub one out. Part of me wished I didn't say yes, but the other part knew it was a good idea. I just hoped that the abstinence agreement didn't last long.

"You must have had fun at the bar with Avery."

"Yes, lots of fun. With Dan and Teddy, too."

_Who the fuck are Dan and Teddy?_

"Who are Dan and Teddy?" I asked apprehensively. Taylor had told me about all her friends New York and not once has she mentioned a Dan and Teddy.

"Just some friends," she said, sounding quite nonchalant. I was a little annoyed but I didn't want to let it bother me. "I don't want to talk about them. I want to talk about you."

It made me feel a whole lot better to hear her say that she would rather talk about me. I've never really thought of myself as a jealous or suspicious guy. That bit me in the ass when Rachel fucked me over.

"What about me?" I asked curiously.

"Harry, I want you. I want you here in my bed right now. I want you so fucking bad."

"Baby, you know I want you, too."

I sighed and closed my eyes, placing my hand over my face. Hearing her beg for me was turning me even more on.

"I want your body next to me right now... I want you to take my clothes off and rub your hands all over my bare skin..."

_Fuck._

As much as I wanted to hear this, I knew we'd regret it in the morning. I ran my hand down to my crotch, feeling my dick get hard just from her voice and hearing what she wanted me to do to her.

"Tay, we agreed not to do this..."

I heard her sigh and then she was quite for a while. I wondered if she fell asleep.

"I miss you," I hear her faintly speak. Her voice sounded more somber now than earlier.

"I miss you, too, babe. I'm sorry I'm not there with you right now, but I promise as soon as I walk off that stage at graduation, I'll be on the next flight to New York to be with you. And then we can be in bed together, even though we won't be having sex yet. But you and I will be together again soon. I promise," I said in hopes that I'd at least be able to cheer her up a little by bringing up that I'd be with her as soon as I could.

I could hear her mumble something else into the phone but I couldn't understand at first She was so quiet and sounded like she was falling asleep. Her voice was just a whisper now.

"I love you, Harry," she breathed weakly, which caused me to nearly stop breathing. I froze for a moment, curious if she really said what it sounded like.

"You do?" I responded back, wondering if this was something she was saying because she was drunk or because she really felt that way.

"Taylor, are you still there?"

It was completely quiet on the other end and all I could hear was the sound of her breathing.

......

**Taylor's POV**

My head was pounding and I opened my eyes to find myself in my bed dressed in last night's outfit. I was alone, which was something I wasn't used to after a night of drinking.

I got up from my bed and walked out of my bedroom towards the kitchen.

"Coffee now," I said out loud to myself.

I popped in a coffee pod into my coffee maker and waited for it to brew me a cup. I went back to my bedroom and searched for my phone, finding it deep inside my comforter. I was relieved to find a text from Harry.

**Harry:** good morning, beautiful. please call me when you wake.

I checked the time and saw that Harry would be awake by now. I called him right away and waited for him to answer.

"Hey," I heard him answer my call.

"Hey babe," I greeted him. "Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you last night. I don't even remember how I got home."

Harry stayed silent for a moment and I started to wonder if everything was okay.

"You don't remember us talking last night? What you said to me last night?" He asked, his voice sounded almost intense.

Hearing him question me about last night made me realize now that I must have called Harry while I was drunk. What could I have said to him to make him react this way?

"Harry, I'm sorry. I don't remember. I had too many drinks last night. Please don't get mad. What did I even say?"

He didn't say anything right away but I could hear him take a deep breath over the phone.

"Never mind," he muttered.


	23. Mr. Smith

"Harry, you seem upset. Why won't you tell me what I said?" I asked him, a lump forming in my throat. I was afraid I had said something to stupid to offend him or make him mad. There must be a reason he didn't want to tell me what I said.

"It's nothing, Taylor. You were just really drunk last night. Please don't worry about it, it's fine," he assured me, though his voice still sounded bothered.

"What ever it was that I said, I'm sorry. I hope it wasn't something stupid," I said apologetically. I really didn't want to start an argument with him, especially over the phone. I just hope I didn't say anything that hurt him.

"It wasn't stupid. It was nothing."

As much as I wanted to find out what I said, I would rather not make it worse by pushing at the subject. I sighed into the phone and walked back towards my kitchen.

"Okay, let's move on, then," I suggested as I put my phone on speaker. Grabbing my cup of coffee, I took a big gulp in an attempt to ease my headache as soon as possible. Knowing that I said something bad enough to upset Harry last night was only making my headache worse.

Both of us were silent for a while, which made me nervous. This is the first time we've had any awkward silence on the phone. Other times when the line was quiet, it was a calm and comfortable quiet. Like we were both still connected to each other. Right now, I almost felt a bit disconnected to him.

"What are your plans for today?" Harry asked, finally speaking up and breaking the silence. I felt a sudden wave of relief to hear him talk.

"I didn't really have anything planned..." I started to say as I began to rummage through my pantry to find something decent to eat for breakfast. I found a box with an unopened package of poptarts and eagerly opened it up, taking a bite of the delicious flaky pastry. "Maybe go to the gym or something. I might go over Nat's apartment for a bit. What are you doing today?"

"I've just got work at the hotel and then the strip club later tonight."

"What I wouldn't give to see you on stage again..." I said trailing off, hoping it'd lighten the mood a little bit. I really did want to see him at the strip club again. Watching him strip and dance sparked something in me the first night I saw him up there. It was intense and quite spectacular. It made it even better knowing he did it all that night just for me.

I could hear a low chuckle coming from Harry and it made me smile to hear it. hoping that it meant he wasn't upset anymore.

"Maybe I'll have Trey record it so that you can have it forever. After I leave Vegas, my stripping days are over. Or at least, my professional stripping days are over."

"Please ask Trey to do that for me," I responded in an urging tone. "He owes us a wedding present anyway. What's a better present than the origin of our relationship?"

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," he agreed with another chuckle.

"Have you set up all the interviews for your trip here?" I asked curiously. When Harry and I talked about him coming to New York after graduation, he decided to call up some former classmates to see if any of their companies were hiring any new graduates. Harry would only be in town for about a week after graduation to see me and to go to the interviews. He still had to stay living in Vegas for a bit while looking for a job in New York.

"Yeah, everything's taken care of. I've got interviews while you're at work, too. So we've got an entire week together in just a few days."

It was probably a good thing that we weren't facetiming at the moment since I couldn't stop myself from grinning like an idiot. Harry would be coming to New York after graduation, but what he didn't know was that we would be seeing each other even sooner than that when I surprise him at his graduation. Even Trey was in on the secret since I gave him the heads up so he could pick me up from the airport.

"I can't wait for you to get here. I'll even show you all the tourist traps here if you want," I replied with a laugh.

"Sounds good to me. As long as I get to spend every moment with you," Harry said just as I hear him turn on his shower. "Babe, I gotta go. I'll call later tonight."

I looked at the time and realized he probably had to get to work soon.

"Okay," I said reluctantly, not wanting to stop the conversation just as we were talking about our future plans while he was here. But I was happy that at least we were ending the call on good terms. "I'll talk to you tonight. Have a good day at work."

...........

The rest of the weekend went by rather quickly and before I knew it, it was already Monday. I would be going to Las Vegas for Harry's graduation on Wednesday, which meant that I just had to get through two days of work.

Harry and I went back to our normal selves after our awkward conversation after I drunk dialed him. The little voice in my head still wanted to get the truth out of Harry about what I told him, but I had to force myself to let it go. If Harry said that it didn't bother him anymore, then it shouldn't bother me.

I struggled to get up and ready for work. I dressed myself up in my normal work attire which consisted of a pencil skirt, a pleated blouse and nude colored pumps. Working at a distinguished and prominent publicity firm meant that I had to dress professionally at all times. Some days it was a hassle to put myself together, but most of the time, I really loved getting to wear such sophisticated outfits.

Once I got to work and settled into my desk, I started going through my emails when I received a phone call from my boss' secretary.

"Mr. Smith would like to see you in his office as soon as possible," she said, her tone and voice very well polished.

"I'll be right there," I responded before hanging up on her. I was startled by the phone call and suddenly, I could feel my heart beating faster and my legs felt like rubber. I had no idea what I was being called in for, so this could either go really well or really bad.

I stood up from my desk and made my way towards his office. The secretary that I just spoke with called him to let him know I was there and proceeded to tell me to go ahead inside. I nodded my head towards her and entered Mr. Smith's office. His office was rather large and extravagant with a huge metal desk in the center.

"Good morning, Ms. Swift," Mr. Smith welcomed me with a smile, which was probably a good sign. Mr. Smith was a handsome looking man for someone his age, probably in his late forties or early fifties. I walked towards him and offered my hand for him to shake.

"Good morning, Mr. Smith. Pleasure to see you," I said politely while he gestured for me to sit down on one of the leather seats in front of his desk. I took a seat and folded my hands in front of me as Mr. Smith did the same.

"You're probably wondering what I've brought you in for," he started, taking off his black rimmed glasses and placing them on the desk. "We've expanded our client base a great deal as of late. I am here to offer you a promotion."

I sucked in a gasp of air as he told me what was happening. The promotion I've been waiting for was finally being offered to me. I felt like jumping up and down in excitement, but I had to keep my composure while I was still in my boss' office.

"Wow, I'm honored," I responded with a kind smile, holding myself back from embarrassing myself.

"You'll get a change in title from junior publicist to publicist. A bump in your salary, obviously. You'll have access to a company car at your beck and call, a company credit card, and unlimited flights and hotel stays to accommodate you while you go out of town to work with your clients."

My jaw almost dropped when I heard all of what was being offered to me. I knew this was what other publicists in the firm were used to, but I was still a bit shocked to hear it being offered to me. Everything that I worked so hard for was finally coming into place.

"Now, my secretary Brenda will give you all the information regarding the clients you'll be responsible for. You'll need to fly out first thing on Wednesday morning to meet with one of your clients in Los Angeles..."

My excitement immediately shifted to worry once I heard him mention Wednesday morning. Harry's graduation day.


	24. Congratulations

"Is there something wrong?" Mr. Smith interrupted my worried thoughts, clearing his throat as he stared at me. I had to quickly calm myself down and put my priorities in order. First, I had to get out of this office so I could weigh my options.

"No, sir, nothing's wrong at all. I'm just in shock," I explained as I faked a smile. 

"So I assume you accept this offer?"

"Yes, sir, of course. Thank you so much for this opportunity," I answered him genuinely. I really couldn't be more grateful that the firm decided to choose me for the promotion. I started as an intern almost a year ago and now I'm a full-fledged publicist. Finally, my college degree would be put to good use. 

"You're welcome, Ms. Swift. You've worked hard, we've noticed," he added encouragingly. "Brenda has your portfolio ready outside."

I took that as my cue to exit and I nodded my head in response. Standing up, I kept eye contact with Mr. Smith and shook his hand before walking out of his office. Brenda was so busy looking at her computer screen as I walked up to her desk that she barely noticed I was there. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a neat bun and her makeup was perfectly applied. She looked like one of those stuck up bitches I went to high school with. I cleared my throat and smiled at her.

"Here's your portfolio with your client information," she reached for a large binder and handed it to me, still keeping her eyes on her computer screen. I practically rolled my eyes at her for being so impolite. "And there's some resumes in there for interns, you get to choose one to hire as your assistant. I'm sure you remember the duties you were responsible when you were an intern. You have your chance to order one around now."

The way she said that I could order around an intern made me cringe. When I was an intern, I had to deal with a lot of shit and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. If I'm going to hire an intern, I want one I can get along with and will actually help me instead of going to Starbucks to get me a latte. 

"Right... thank you," I said as I picked up the binder and tucked it against my chest, folding my arms over it protectively. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

She finally looked away from the screen and opened a drawer, pulling out a key card. She handed the card to me and actually glanced in my direction for a moment before pointing up.

"Your new office is upstairs, the next floor up. Office number is on the key card," she informed me. 

My new office. I almost forgot I get my own office. I was so happy I could barely contain myself. I immediately wanted to call Harry as soon as possible to tell him the amazing news. 

"Thank you, Brenda," I said as calmly as I could and walked away from her and towards my now former desk that was cramped in an office with 6 other junior publicists. 

Once I reached my old office, I found my co-worker, Nina, waiting at my desk. Nina stood up once she saw me, her brown eyes searching my face for a clue as to why I had gone to the boss' office. 

"I got promoted!" I exclaimed, alerting the rest of the office to turn their attention to me. Everyone else got up from their seats as I hugged Nina and started offering me their congratulations. 

........

We had celebrated in the office for a little bit, which took my mind off worrying about what I was going to do about Wednesday. The minute I got to my office, the first thing I noticed was the huge window taking up the entire fourth wall. I could see out into the other buildings of New York City. The view was incredible.

I sat down at my desk and let it all sink in. I looked around the office, which was about half the size of Mr. Smith's yet still quite large for a regular office. Everything inside was bare other than the desk, a brand new computer and the office chair I was sitting in. I made a mental note to go through an office furniture catalog to pick out things to furnish my new space with. 

The sound of my phone vibrating on the desk interrupted my thoughts. 

**Harry:** hope you're having a good day xx

My mouth formed into a smile and I immediately called him.

"Hello, love," he answered, his voice sweet and mellow.

"Hi baby," I said cheerfully. "I have some amazing news."

"You sound really happy... what's going on?"

"They promoted me! I'm getting a raise, the company credit card, an intern and I'm sitting in my own office. Harry, this view they gave me is almost as good as the view of Las Vegas we had on our first date."

"Are you serious?" The volume of Harry's voice was raised so loudly, I nearly had to pull my phone away from my ear. "I'm so proud of you, baby. Congratulations."

"Thank you. I'm still in shock, I think."

"Well, you deserve it. We've got some celebrating to do once I get to New York."

Hearing how happy Harry was for me only reminded me that I really had to figure out what I was going to do about his graduation. As far as he knew, the next time he'd be seeing me would be when he got to New York. Now with this new promotion and having to be in Los Angeles the same day of his graduation, my plan of surprising him was now up in the air. 

"We've both got something to celebrate about," I reminded him about his own accomplishment. 

"We're quite a successful couple, aren't we, Mrs. Styles?" His use of my married name always made me feel flustered in the best way. It still took some getting used to. 

"Yes, we are," I answered him with a giggle. "Alright, well your successful wife has to get back to work. Talk to you tonight, H."

"Bye, love." 

The moment I hung up with Harry, my focus went to the binder that Brenda gave me when I left Mr. Smith's office. I had to figure out if there would be any possibility that I could still make it to Harry's graduation ceremony. I carefully read the first few pages until I got to the itinerary set up for me for Wednesday. 

I saw the name Vaughn Ames and vaguely remembered hearing about him as an up and coming twenty-something year old actor with a new romantic comedy coming out. Nina must have brought him up because I remember her gushing about how dreamy and sexy he was. 

6:00 AM (EST): Flight from JFK to LAX

10:00 AM (PST): Arrive in LAX

11:00 AM-11:30 AM (PST): Meet with Vaughn Ames to prepare for press conference and interviews

11:30 AM-12:00 PM (PST): Press conference for Vaughn Ames' new movie

1:00 PM-1:30 PM (PST): Break for lunch

1:30-3:00 PM (PST): Interviews with several media outlets with Mr. Ames.

Harry's graduation ceremony is supposed to start at 4:00 PM. I had to google to check how much time I'd have to get from LA to Las Vegas in less than an hour. I took into consideration how long and tedious most graduation ceremonies were, there was a good chance I'd make it with time to spare. It just depended on when Harry was going to be walking across the stage to accept his diploma. I also had to pray and hope that the interviews didn't go longer than they're scheduled for because once they end, I would be free to leave. That meant that I had to get to the airport immediately afterwards and fly to Las Vegas.

The circumstances that could prevent me from getting to Harry's graduation in time started to make me feel stressed out. I made a plan to rearrange my flights to take me from Los Angeles to Las Vegas instead of back to New York.

I quickly texted Trey about my change of plans and that he no longer had to pick me up from the airport now that I would be running late. I told him I'd catch a cab instead and I asked that he just had to keep me updated with what was going on with the ceremony.

For the rest of the day, I continued to meticulously go through the rest of the binder, studying every detail about my new clients and all the projects and business ventures that I had to memorize. Though I did a pretty good job with getting through the entire binder by the end of the day, I still couldn't take my mind off of Harry. 

Before I met Harry, my career was my number one priority. All I wanted was to climb up the company ladder and make more money than I ever thought possible. I wouldn't ever have wanted to go through so much just to see someone. But that wasn't until I realized how happy a certain someone has made me.


	25. Rush

Tuesday was spent with me preparing for the trip to Los Angeles and worrying about making it to Las Vegas in time. When I got home from work, I packed up everything I'd need for the trip. Luckily, I would only be out of town for about a day but I needed to be prepared so I decided to over-pack. 

I didn't tell Harry about my trip to LA in case he wanted to suggest that I make it out to Vegas. I wanted to make sure my surprise stayed a surprise. Instead, I just told him I'd be meeting my new client on Wednesday and that my schedule would be so crazy that I wouldn't be able to contact him all day. I swear I could hear disappointment and sadness in his voice when I told him about not even being able to watch the live stream of his graduation. 

My Wednesday morning started with me waking up before the sun was even out. Harry was on the other line of my phone and I had to hang up on him while he slept. I knew there'd be no time to change when I got to LA, so I just wore what I was planning on wearing to the press conference, a simple black skirt and blue button down shirt. I almost drifted off to sleep while doing my hair and makeup, but managed to get out of my apartment within an hour before my flight was about to leave. 

The flight to Los Angeles was the perfect time for me to catch up on my sleep. Thankfully, I was put in business class and the seat I was in was much more comfortable than if I were in coach. I slept through most of the flight, waking up just in time as the flight was getting ready to land at LAX. 

A car and driver was waiting for me at baggage claim and took me straight to the Beverly Hills Hotel where the press conference was being held. I kept my luggage at the bell desk while I went off to find my client.

"I'll be right there," I hear on the other side of the door as I knock on Vaughn Ames' hotel room door. I wait a few minutes until I hear footsteps approaching the door and the lock turning. When the door finally opens, Vaugh Ames is standing in front of me, fresh out from the shower with a towel hanging off his hips. He's tall, taller than it looked like from the pictures I had from his portfolio. He had a very fit body, six pack abs and muscular arms. 

"Well, well, well...," he cracked a smirk at me, rubbing at his scruffy jaw. I could hear his Scottish accent clearly now, as well as a shuffling from his bed. In his bed, I can see that there's a naked woman sleeping. Mr. Ames glanced back at the woman and looked back at me as if it was normal. "You must be my new publicist? Taylor something or other?"

"Mr. Ames," I said as I extended my hand out to shake his. "My name is Taylor. Taylor Sw-" I paused for a second and decided to correct myself. If I'm going to start out in my new position, I might as well start with my new last name, too. "Taylor Styles." 

"Hm, could have sworn it was a different last name my manager e-mailed to me."

"It's my new married name," I explained, keeping my eyes focused away from the still half-naked man standing in front of me. Not that I was tempted by anything. Undoubtedly, he's simply hot. But there's nothing he can offer me that Harry can't. Him appearing at the door half naked was rather inappropriate, especially with a woman in his bed. I felt uncomfortable and out of place, even though I was meant to be here.

"Shame. Would've been nice to fuck you, too," he said clearly, intending for me to hear him. My jaw nearly dropped from his crude comment. I had to hold back a scoff and keep my face from showing any signs of disgust. I didn't want to make it appear like I was bothered by it. Normally, I wouldn't be so bothered by hearing such nasty comments. I heard that kind of shit all the time from guys. Hell, I've been known to say that kind of shit after a few drinks. But I was offended that he'd think his new publicist would be willing to have sex with her client. It made me wonder what happened to his last publicist. 

"I'll wait out here while you finish getting ready. We'll need to get started preparing for today," I responded to him, pretending that I didn't hear his last statement. I'm not taking any of this bullshit today. Especially today.

He cocked his eyebrow at me and gave me another smirk while he closed the door shut in front of me. I stood out in the hallway, gripping onto my notebook filled with all my notes. I started to read through everything for the hundredth time to make sure I wouldn't forget anything. 

Moments later, Mr. Ames emerged from his room in a navy blue suit and his hair combed to the side. He'd have to get taken care of by a hair and makeup team later to make sure he's camera ready. 

The rest of the morning was spent inside a hotel meeting room where Mr. Ames and I went through the schedule for the day and what he would be talking about to all of the press. It was difficult to convince him what to say and what not to say and I was growing painfully aggravated by his stubbornness. 

The press conference and interviews went smoothly. He was being professional enough not to put up a fight with what I instructed him to say, though, I knew this was only the beginning of a challenging business relationship. 

I kept track of the time almost every chance I could. My flight to Las Vegas is supposed to depart 45 minutes after the interviews conclude, meaning my driver has to get me past the LA traffic in less than 30 minutes. 

Finally, Vaughn finished up his last interview ten minutes ahead of schedule and I shake hands with the interviewers, thanking them for their time as they walk out of the conference room. I turn my attention back to my client and attempt to shake his hand. His hands reach out and grab hold of mine, caressing my hand in between his. I attempt to pull my hand back, but he's gripping it tightly now that I'm trying to pull away. 

"Would you like to come join me in my room for drinks?" 

I take a step back and take my hand back from his grasp. "Mr. Ames, please understand that this is a business relationship. I'm your publicist," I began firmly, my voice serious. "Your manager hired my firm to help you."

"I can keep a secret...," he said quietly as he leaned in closer. He reached his hand out and placed it on my hip causing me to quickly swat it away. 

"Mr. Ames," I raised my voice now that we were alone in the conference room and took a few steps back. "I'm not interested. But I bet my boss would be interested to hear about this if you continue with this behavior."

"Yeah, who do you think he's he going to believe?"

I looked at him in disgust and shook my head as I started to make my way towards the exit doors. "Goodbye Mr. Ames."

.........

The ride from the hotel to the airport was smooth. I was so thankful that there wasn't any traffic to keep me from getting on my flight. The incident with Vaughn Ames had me a bit bothered, but I decided not to let it ruin the rest of the day. The rest of my day belonged to Harry.

I practically ran to my gate after getting past the line at the security checkpoint just as the airline attendant was calling out my name. 

"I'm here!" I yelled as I scrambled past strangers standing between me and the jet bridge. I finally made it to the airline attendant at the doorway and handed her my ticket for the flight. She scanned in my ticket and allowed me past the door as she phoned in that I was making my way to the plane. 

Once I settled into my seat, I pulled out my phone and checked to see if Trey had left any messages. I found that Harry sent me some messages as well.

**Harry:** hope your day's going well with your new client

**Harry:** miss you, wish you were here

**Trey:** harry and i are here now, just arrived at graduation...

The time was 3:45 which meant that the ceremony would start in fifteen minutes. The flight from LA to Las Vegas is about forty minutes. If I'm lucky, all the speeches will still be going on while I'm making my way to the ceremony. I squirmed in my seat, trying to get comfortable while I find myself unable to control anything at the moment. I took a deep breath to calm myself down and texted Trey back.

**Me:** flight's leaving now... will text when i land

.....

When the flight lands and the pilot's allowed everyone off the plane, I rush through the airport, rolling my luggage with one hand and my phone in the other hand. I attempt not to run anyone over or fall over anyone's luggage and head straight for the taxi line. Once I step outside, I immediately feel the intense heat of the Las Vegas weather. I can already feel myself sweating as I hop into the back of a cab without a hesitation, shoving my luggage in next to me, and giving the location of the graduation ceremony to the cab driver. I did my research before leaving New York and checked how far the airport was from where the graduation was being held. The distance was 1.4 miles.

**Me:** plane landed... what's the status?

**Trey:** speeches are done...

"Shit," I mutter to myself. "Please get me there as soon as you can. I'll throw in an extra hundred if you can get me there in five minutes," I beg the cab driver. 

The driver nods and begins to speed his way out of the airport. I nervously watch as we pass by other cars. I can tell we're close because there's traffic leading into the parking lot. I bite down on my bottom lip and glance back and forth between the cars in front of us and the continuous texts that Trey was sending me telling me how far away he and Harry were getting to be called to go up on stage. There were about five rows ahead of them.

I went through my wallet and started to write down Harry's address on an old receipt. I pulled out enough money to cover the cab fare and an extra hundred dollar bill. 

"Take my luggage to this address, please. And keep the rest of the money," I said as I handed the cash and address to the driver without giving him a second to respond. I throw the door open and hop out of the cab. At that moment, I regret not changing out of my heels as I begin to run towards the building, at least three blocks and a parking lot away in the dry desert sun.


	26. Life-changing

It's so odd how major life events only takes seconds to happen. If you're late to a wedding and miss out when the bride and groom say 'I do' or to a baby's baptism when the priest dips the baby's head in holy water, you miss the most important part. You miss the moment that somebody's life changes.

Graduation ceremonies are exactly the same. You have to sit through all these motivational speeches given by the faculty, the valedictorian, salutatorian, and random guest speakers. There's hundreds of students graduating and you have to sit there while each person's name is called. But, you're really only there to see one person walk across the stage to shake someone's hand and accept a piece of paper worth thousands of dollars. People only go to graduations for the short seconds that their person experiences a life-changing moment.

There's a reason I'm running across this scorching pavement in heels while the blazing Las Vegas sun burns into my skin and the dry air parches my throat. I've come all this way to witness one of Harry's life-changing moments. I can't miss it.

I finally reach the doors of the arena where the graduation is being held and hurry inside. I can hear through the speakers the names of the graduates being read off. I keep thinking in the back of my head that I'm too late and that Harry has already made it to the stage.

When I finally enter, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people sitting in the stands. Parents, siblings, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends... all the graduates loved ones sitting in the large arena. My eyes scan the sea of people in caps and gowns on the floor in an attempt to find Harry, or even Trey.

I'm already out of breath from the run and my heart is beating so fast. I can't seem to find him anywhere and I start to panic. I let out a few coughs to help me catch my breath and walk down the steps of the arena to get a closer look. All I can hear are the names being called and cheers coming from the stands.

When I finally find an empty seat, I continue my search to find where Harry is. My breathing nearly stops when I see Harry queued up on the side of the stage, the next one to walk across the stage. I feel a rush of relief and adrenaline as he strides along the stage. When his name is called, I leap up out of my seat and cheer as loudly as I can, whooping and whistling while Harry accepts his diploma.

I couldn't tell if Harry has heard me since I'm so far away. That was until he looked in my direction as he walked back to his seat and I could tell he was searching for the voice he heard cheering him on. I start waving my arms to get his attention and watch as Harry nearly bumps into the person in front of him when I see him realize it was me. His lips formed into a huge grin and I could see his dimples from where I stood. He put his hand up to the left side of his chest and pointed at me.

My nerves have finally calmed. I made it just in time. Just for him.

...........

The graduation ceremony finally ended when the graduates threw their caps up in the air. I was so anxious to get to Harry that I was already out of my seat and heading down to the floor. Unfortunately, everyone else in the arena had the same idea and the floor turned into an abundance of loved ones searching for their graduates and embracing each other with hugs and kisses when they finally reached them.

I tried to remember where Harry was sitting at last but it seemed impossible to find him with so many people surrounding me that I could barely even move.

"You made it," I hear his voice just as a pair of arms wrap around me from behind. I turned around to see Harry standing in front of me in his graduation gown. I practically leap into his arms and hug him tightly. While it's really only been almost two weeks since we've seen each other in person, it really has felt like much longer than that. The phone calls and facetiming sessions we had were nothing compared to how it felt having him with me in the flesh.

"Congratulations, baby," I mumbled into his ear, still not willing to let go of his grip. He placed his arms around my waist and quickly picked me up from the ground for a moment and I could tell he was just as excited as I was.

When I finally forced myself to let go, I placed a soft kiss on his cheek and pulled back to get a good look at him. My hand reached up to cup his cheek and I leaned in to kiss his lips.

"Get a bloody room, you two," I hear Trey's familiar voice approaching us and I peel myself off of Harry to give his best friend a hug.

"Congratulations, Trey," I said as I greeted him, smirking at his comment.

"Thanks, Mrs. Styles. Glad to see you made it in time," he responded, returning my smirk with one of his own.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the both of us. "You were both in on this surprise?"

"It was all your wife's idea. I was just her minion," Trey replied to Harry, chuckling. "I'm gonna get going to set up for the party. I'll see you guys there."

We both said our goodbyes to Trey just as we reached for each other's hands, dropping them to our sides. We kept our eyes locked and just stood there for a moment, simply taking in each other's presence as the buzz and chatter of everyone else surrounded us.

"You're incredible," Harry leaned in to speak into my ear to make sure I heard him. I couldn't stop smiling and I pulled him closer to me again in another embrace.

......

Harry and I arrived at his apartment just as people started trickling in for the party. Trey and Harry both introduced me to some of their guests and right away the stories and jokes began. It was nice getting to know some of Harry's friends, most of them were fellow classmates and a few were co-workers from the hotel and the strip club.

Soon, the party got into full swing as more and more people arrived. I went on a search to look for Harry and once I found him, I grabbed onto his hand and started to pull him towards his bedroom.

"I need some alone time with my husband," I explained once we were alone inside his room, shutting the door behind me. I led him towards the bed until the back of his legs hit the edge and without another word, I gently shoved him onto the bed.

"Tay," he breathed out just as I began to straddle his torso. I leaned down, my hands pressed against his chest as my lips began to caress his lips. The kiss started out soft but quickly turned intense as my tongue found its way in between his lips. I felt him kissing me back, his lips sucking and biting into my bottom lip for a few seconds until he eventually pulled away.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I sat upright, looking down at him while I still had my legs wrapped around him.

"Fuck, I'm sorry," he started, dropping his head against the bed. "I just remembered the fucking agreement we made. No sex."

I paused for a moment, regretting the decision we made. It was logical and responsible, but at this moment, I didn't give a fuck.

"Just this once?" I asked, my hands caressing his chest. I lowered my hands down his torso and started to play with the hem of his shirt. "I owe you a graduation present."

"You being here is enough," Harry pointed out to me.

"Please?"

He took a deep breath and started to shake his head, though he was smiling at the same time. His lips gave him away and I could tell he wanted this just as much as I did. 

"Fuck," he finally said, his voice hoarse and rough as he pushed himself up and kissed me on the lips. He pulled off his shirt and threw it on the floor as I began to unbutton my top. He put his hands on mine, stopping me. I looked at him as a playful smile was displayed on his lips and I began to wonder what was on his mind.

"Tell me what you want me to do, Harry," I breathed into his ear as I placed my hands on his bare chest.

"Strip for me."


	27. Patience

Harry's request suddenly caused my heart to race. Luckily, I had a feeling that one way or another, we'd end up having sex tonight. Whether I made it in time for his graduation or if I ended up getting to Las Vegas too late, I was either going to reward him or beg for his forgiveness. 

After two weeks of not seeing each other, there was no way I was going to stick to our no sex policy. I'm not strong enough for that. I had every intention to seduce Harry to comply with me, though I didn't expect him to give in so easily. I came prepared and had another surprise for Harry. Underneath my clothes, I was wearing my favorite black lace lingerie. 

I picked myself off of Harry's body and stood in front of him, my hands placed on his shoulders. I leaned down to place a kiss on his lips, letting it linger for a moment before pulling away. I stood further away from him as he sat upright on his bed, his legs hanging off the edge.

"Do you have any candles?" I asked, starting to look around his room. The lighting was bright and definitely wasn't the setting needed for this kind of entertainment. I wanted to make this special for Harry so this had to be perfect. 

Harry pointed to his closet and leaned back on the bed with a grin still on his face as he rest his body on his elbows.

I pulled open his closet door and glanced around before finding a box marked candles. I let out a chuckle, thinking about how many times Harry has had to set the mood in his room before. 

"You really don't have to put too much effort into this, babe. I'll be fine if you just do a little dance and take your clothes off," Harry said as he let out a gentle laugh.

"Nope, not gonna happen," I replied to him as I managed to place and light all the candles on his nightstand tables and dresser. I started to look through my phone and picked out a playlist of songs that would be appropriate for this and hit play. "I'm not half-assing it. If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this right."

I've taken my clothes off in front of plenty of guys before, but I never imagined having to strip for my husband who just so happened to be a professional stripper. The thought of being able to impress him put a little bit of pressure on me. 

The sound of a sexy R&B song sang by a female singer with a sultry voice came through the speaker of my phone. My attention went straight back to Harry as I walked towards him again. His grin never left his face and I couldn't help but mirror his expression. 

I started to sway my hips to the beat of the song. My fingers played with the buttons of my shirt and my eyes stayed on Harry's, just like how our eyes locked the night I watched him strip for me. I bit down on my bottom lip as I unbuttoned my shirt, revealing my lace negligee. At that moment, Harry's eyes widened and he forced himself to sit back up. 

"Fuck," I heard him say under his breath.

Dropping my shirt to the floor, I turned around and began to lower my skirt down slowly. In a few seconds, I was showing off my ass in a black thong. I turned around just as Harry stood up and walked towards me.

"No, no," I demanded pushing him to sit back down on the bed. "You asked for this."

"I honestly can't fucking wait any longer," Harry responded, sighing. He cupped his crotch and started pouting his lips at me. 

"Patience," I ordered him softly, adding in a wink as I stepped further away from him and began pulling off the lace negligee. Within seconds, I was standing in just my bra and panties, still swaying to the sensual music. I shut my eyes for a moment, getting myself caught up in the moment. 

I turned around again and with my back facing Harry, I started to unhook my bra. Slowly, I pulled it off and dropped it the floor and turned my head to look back at Harry. His green eyes caught mine immediately and I turned around so he could get a better view. 

Harry's breath hitched and I walked closer to him until I was standing just inches away. I pulled him up to get him on his feet and I got down on my knees. Looking up at him, I began undoing his pants and pulled them down. 

His erection was already quite noticeable underneath his boxers and I was eager to pull them down. Once his cock was out in the open, my hands wrapped around the base and I ran my tongue along the length of it and sucking at the tip. I could taste his pre-cum on my tongue as I continued, using my hands, lips and tongue on him. 

"Baby, I need to fuck you right now," Harry let out in short breaths. 

I let go of him and licked my lips, getting up from my knees. With my heels still on, I got on Harry's bed and rested my head on his pillows. Harry followed after me and he was on top of me in seconds, hovering over me. His hands were eager to get my thong right off and pulled them through my legs. 

"Shit, I need to get a condom," he said in a low, raspy voice as he started to reach over to his nightstand table.

"I'm on birth control," I informed him, mumbling just as I pulled his neck lower so I could start kissing his lips. Harry's hand reached in between my thighs, running his two of his fingers on my clit while his lips began to kiss and lick my nipples. I let out a moan, feeling his touch against me and his hot breath on my skin. My heart was pounding hard and I felt a rush of adrenaline going through my veins. 

"Mm, you're wet, baby," Harry whispered, his mouth running up my skin as he softly nuzzled against my neck. 

Our hands intertwined as I felt him enter inside me and I pulled him closer. My legs wrapped around him and I opened my eyes to look into his. We kept our eyes connected just as our bodies set a rhythm. Harry leaned his face closer to mine and we kissed passionately. 

This was different the the other times we had sex. The first time, the night of the wedding, we were so drunk that I don't even remember it. The second time was just sex. Now I could feel the difference. This wasn't just sex anymore. It was gentle and tender. Our bodies were warm against each other's as we continued on and I let out a gasp just as my body tensed. 

"Taylor," Harry breathed against my lips, and I could tell he was close, too. 

It felt like I was exploding when I finally came while Harry let out sharp, jagged breaths when I felt him come inside me. 

Harry dropped himself down beside me, wrapping both his arms around my body. I nuzzled against him and pressed my lips against his neck. 

My heart was racing and something became clear to me. I realized something I should've known this whole time. I think a part of me has known for a while but was too afraid to admit it. 

"You're out of breath, babe, do you want water?" Harry asked as I felt his mouth against my hair, interrupting my thoughts.

"No," I answered him quickly. "I just need a second to catch my breath."

"Okay," Harry said as he kissed my forehead.

For the past two weeks, I've made the deepest and most intimate connection with someone that I've never had with anyone else before. I didn't understand at first what that meant for me. I never knew what it was like. But I didn't need to know what it was like, I just had to feel it. I felt it late at night when we talked on the phone and I fell asleep to the sound of his voice. I felt it when I rushed to his graduation and saw the look on his face when he saw me. And right now, with Harry beside me showing me just how important and special I was to him, I felt it.

"Harry..." I began, pulling my head away from him as I made sure to look into his eyes. "I love you."

Harry pursed his lips into a smile and leaned in to kiss my lips for a moment. He pulled away and smirked at me.

"I know," he stated as his smile grew wider. 

"How do you know?" I asked, confused at what he meant by his statement.

"You told me... that night you got drunk at the bar and came home. You called me and you told me you love me," he explained, just as it became clear to me what it was that he refused to tell me what I said to him that night. I begged for him to tell me and yet he wouldn't. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, sounding bothered, though I didn't mean to. I was just trying to understand.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to pressure you into saying it. I wanted you to say it when you were ready...." he said, trailing off as he took a deep breath. "Do you mean it? You love me?"

"Yes. I mean it. I love you, Harry," I said, smiling at him. I let out a sigh of relief, letting myself relax now that I admitted how I really felt.

Harry smiled back at me and I ran my fingers along his cheek, touching his dimple and lips. I started to wonder if he felt the same way. 

"You don't have to say you love me, too... I mean, if you're not ready...," I stuttered out nervously as I began to panic. I didn't want to pressure him into saying it if he wasn't ready himself. 

He shook his head and chuckled. "I've known since the first day I had to spend without you with me..." he responded with a shrug. "I was just waiting for you to realize it yourself."

I almost dropped my jaw in disbelief at his admission. He's felt this way for almost as long as we've been together.

"So...?" I said, making the single word sound more like a question as I prodded for him to continue.

He placed his fingers under my chin and smiled again. "I love you, Taylor."


	28. Unexpected

**Harry's POV**

"This whole abstinence agreement thing did not last very long," Taylor quipped, smirking at me. I pulled her closer to me. Now that I finally had her here with me in person, I just did not want to let her go. As fun as it'd be to be out in the party drinking and getting wild, I'd rather lay here all night and just stare into her deep blue eyes.

"True. We are lacking in self-restraint," I responded, chuckling at how both of us were too weak to keep up with our no sex policy.

"This is an exception, though," she added while she started running her fingers along my chest, tracing the lines of my tattoos with her nail. She always was so curious to know about my tattoos, each and every one of them. One night, she had me go through each tattoo to tell her the story and meaning behind it.

"So you want to go on and not have sex?" I asked, furrowing my brows at her. I understand completely why we decided not to have sex. We wanted our relationship to develop differently than our past relationships in the hopes that this one wouldn't end badly.

Taylor stared back at me for a few seconds, probably thinking through how we were going to go on with this. "No, I don't mean that, I-" she stopped and sighed. "It's not just sex anymore, don't you think? Ugh, I'm gonna sound like a stupid idiot in a dumb romance novel, but... we're making love now... right?"

She shook her head and covered her face with her hands, looking embarrassed by what she just said. I just let out a laugh and attempted to remove her hands from her face.

"Stop laughing at me," she whined, pretending to jab her fist at my stomach and started to laugh back.

"I'm laughing at how cute you're being right now," I explained and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "But you do make a good point. We're not having meaningless sex. That was the whole reasoning behind the no sex policy. Our relationship is more than that now. You love me and I love you."

"Exactly. You're my husband and I'm your wife and we're making _looove_ ," she giggled.

"You're bloody adorable," I said just before leaning in to nuzzle her neck with my mouth. She continued to let out more giggles. I loved hearing the sound of her laugh. It made her sound so relaxed and happy, and it made me happy knowing I had some impact on it.

Once our laughing died down, I continued to just hold her and lay in the silence with only the sound of our breathing and our hearts beating. I couldn't help but love how comfortable she made me just by being here.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what your city is like," I broke the silence as she moved her head slightly from the crook of my arm to look back at me. "The Big Apple. Will you take me to the Statue of Liberty? And Times Square and Central Park..."

"Yes, I'll take you anywhere you want to go," she answered, pulling on my fingers and intertwining them with hers.

Before Taylor surprised me, I had thought the next time I'd see her would be when I left for New York after graduation. I reckon this is a much better deal for the both of us. 

When I saw her wildly yelling and flailing her arms around after I walked the stage at graduation, I couldn't believe it was her at first. But when I got a better look at her, I felt the biggest rush of happiness and relief. That was the validation I needed to know for sure that what she told me when she drunkenly called me and told me she loved me was real. Even though she was drunk, she just told me how she honestly felt. Of course, I was bummed to find out that she didn't remember what she said next day.

It made me so happy to hear her say it again tonight, sober and fully aware, and be able to say it back to her. I had a feeling that just how afraid she's been to admit it, mostly because of the fact that we've known each other for a short amount of time. But during that short amount of time, there was nothing I could actually do to stop myself from falling in love with her. I just didn't want to rush her and scare her away if she didn't feel the same way.

We're on the same page now. Something I never felt in any relationship I've had in the past. Regardless of how we met and how we decided to stay together, we've been through a lot in the past two weeks, more than I can say I've been through with any other woman.

"Then you can show me your apartment... the one I've seen just from the small screen of my phone. We can have breakfast in your kitchen, watch movies in your living room, enjoy the bliss of married life in your bedroom," I beamed at the thought of spending more time together. "Domestic life and all."

"Sounds perfect to me," she said just as she kissed my shoulder. "You and me in the same place at the same time. Sounds like a real married couple."

I let out a laugh and nodded my head. She started slowly running her fingers through my hair and I closed my eyes at the comfort of her touch. Her fingers were soothing as she rubbed her fingers gently massaging my head. I gave her a soft kiss on the lips and held her body tightly against mine.

The moment we were having was interrupted by a loud banging at my door. We both looked at each other in confusion, wondering who it could be.

"Who is it?" I yelled out loudly.

"It's me, Trey. Harry, I need to talk to you."

"Hold on a minute," I said loudly as I forced myself to untangle myself from Taylor. I got up from my bed and reached into my dresser to pull out two t-shirts and two pairs of sweatpants. I gave one of each to Taylor so she could put something on before I put my clothes on myself.

I waited for Taylor to put the clothes on before walking to the door to let Trey in. He stood at the doorway with an anxious look on his face.

"What the fuck, Trey? What's wrong?"

"Harry," he started to say in a low and quiet voice as he glanced at Taylor who was sitting patiently at the foot of the bed. "You've got an unexpected visitor... Rachel's here, man. I don't know how she found out about the party, but she's here and she's looking for you."

My jaw clenched upon hearing her name. The last thing I wanted was for my night with Taylor ruined, but that would be impossible if Rachel is around.

"Just tell her I'm not here, tell her I left or something..." I answered him back quietly.

"I'll try but she seemed intent on speaking with you. I don't think she's going to give up so easily."

I looked back at Taylor and I could tell she was wondering what we were talking so quietly about. I didn't want to hide this from her. If Rachel's here, there's no hiding this from her.

"Alright, man... I'll go out there and talk to her later. Thanks for the heads up," I said as I frustratingly ran my hands through my hair.

Trey walked out of the room as I began to walk back to Taylor.

"What's going on?" She asked me curiously, standing up from the bed.

"Rachel's here... looking for me," I informed her, rolling my eyes. "Listen, I'm sorry for anything she says to you when you meet her. She has a tendency to be a bitch. And if you don't want to be here when I talk to her, I understand."

"Harry, I'm not afraid of some ex-girlfriend of yours. You're mine. She's not gonna steal you away from me that easily without me putting up a fight. I can be a bitch, too, you know," she said with a hint of pride in her voice. I couldn't help but grin at her response and I leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

"Maybe with you here, she might just back off for good."

"Let's hope so," Taylor added just as I heard a knock on my door. I gave Taylor one final look before I opened the door.

"Rachel," I said flatly, acknowledging her presence.

"Hi Harry," she answered me, her voice sweet and friendly. Completely the opposite of what I expected from her.

"What do you want?" I asked, keeping my tone firm.

She peeked her eyes past me and towards Taylor. Her lips curled into a smile and I began to grow even more suspicious.

"Is this your new girlfriend?" She asked as she pushed her way past me and towards Taylor. I was afraid of what she was about to try to do until Rachel stood in front of Taylor and offered to shake her hand. "I'm Rachel, you might have heard about me."

Taylor gave me a nervous gaze for a second before looking back at Rachel. "I'm Taylor."

I walked up to the two of them and stared at Rachel. "What do you want?" I repeated my first question.

"Harry, please calm down," Rachel chuckled and shook her head. "I have something to tell you, but you might not want your girlfriend in here when I do."

"Anything you have to say to me you can say to her," I insisted. Why she seemed all cheerful and bubbly was beyond me. There's got to be some reason she was acting so strangely considering our last conversation at the strip club when I kicked her out of my dressing room. She was pissed off that night after she begged for me to take her back and I flat out refused. I even told her about being with someone else, so she must know that the someone else is Taylor.

"If you say so," she began, a wide grin on her face. I stared back at her blankly, prompting for her to continue. She crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "Harry, I'm three months pregnant."


	29. Fresh Air

"You're fucking lying," I blurted out once I heard Rachel tell me that she was pregnant. My face started feeling hot and my head was spinning, but I was going to get the truth out of her no matter what.

There's no way she's pregnant. And if she is pregnant, then the baby can't be mine. We did have sex about three months ago when we were together, but I'm not the only guy she fucked at the time. I know for a fact she was with Nick, but for all I know, she could have been with more.

Rachel laughed dismissively and started digging through her purse. She took out a piece of paper and shoved it into my hand. I didn't look at it right away, I couldn't stop gaping at my ex-girlfriend. After a few seconds, I looked down at what she handed to me. An ultrasound picture.

"What does this prove?" I asked her as I continued to study the ultrasound in my hands.

"I'm 14 weeks pregnant. It was conceived before you and I broke up, Harry. This baby is yours," she practically yelled in my face.

"Now it's my turn to fucking laugh," I replied to her arrogantly, my voice raising by each word. "You really expect me to believe that you weren't cheating on me before we broke up? Before I caught you cheating on me?"

"You can believe me or not. But I'm having our baby and we need to discuss what we're going to do about it. Maybe you wanna have your new girlfriend leave so we can talk about this in private."

I couldn't control the range of emotions I was feeling while talking to Rachel. Rachel's news had me so rattled and shocked that I almost forgot Taylor was standing behind me. I turned around to look at her and now she was just sitting on the edge of the bed, her face pale white.

"Tay," I muttered as I sat down beside her. I wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to me as I placed a hand on her cheek. She looked back at me and frowned slightly.

"I'm going to go and let you two talk," Taylor finally spoke up as she attempted to stand from the bed. I reached for her hands and clasped them with mine.

"Please don't leave. I need you here," I begged her, making sure she saw the desperate look in my eyes. 

"Let her leave Harry. She doesn't need to be here, anyway," Rachel spat out, glaring at both me and Taylor.

I stood up from the bed, still holding onto Taylor's hand, and faced Rachel.

"She does, actually, need to be here," I said firmly at Rachel before turning my attention back to Taylor. She had to know that her being with me right now is important. "Taylor, please stay. If this baby really is mine, then it's yours, too," I said softly and quietly to her.

"Harry, I-"

"Excuse me?" Rachel interrupted Taylor after hearing what I just said to her. "What makes you think this fucking stranger is going to have any part in my baby's life? How long have you even known her? Who the fuck is she to you?"

"I'm his wife," Taylor boldly answered Rachel for me. "Which would make me this baby's stepmother."

Rachel snickered as if Taylor had been joking and looked back at me for some kind of confirmation. I ignored her and continued to keep my attention on Taylor.

"You cannot be serious," Rachel asked humorlessly now, looking back and forth between me and Taylor. "You got married?!"

I ignored Rachel as Taylor dropped my hand and crossed her arms, turning her body to face me now. Her expression looked worried and saddened, her eyes watering as she attempted to wipe away any tears that fell. I started to feel my own eyes water just by looking at her.

"I'm sorry. I need to go and get some fresh air. This is all just-" she began explaining herself, stopping to take a deep breath. "I'm just gonna go outside for a bit. Please, Harry. You need to talk to Rachel about this and me being here is making it complicated."

She didn't give me an opportunity to respond when she hurried out of my bedroom and shut the door behind her. My first instinct was to run out and follow her, but then I turned to look at Rachel, who quite possibly be carrying my child. I felt so frustrated at the moment, unsure of how to handle this situation. I ran both my hands through my hair and sighed.

"Finally she's gone," Rachel said under her breath as she stepped closer to me and reached out for my hand. "Now let's talk about our baby. I have another appointment in about two weeks with my doctor. You need to be there because we'll be able to find out if we're having a boy or-"

I stopped her mid-sentence and quickly pulled my hand out of her grasp, taking a step away from her since she decided to get uncomfortably close to me.

"Fine, Rachel. _If_ this baby is really mine, then I'll be there to support it and be in it's life. I'll go to doctor appointments, support him or her financially, and do everything a good father needs to do. But get this straight... for as long as Taylor is in my life, she'll be in this baby's life, too."

It looked like Rachel wanted to respond, but I put my palm up and made sure she stayed silent while I continued on.

"But I don't believe that I'm the only man you had sex with three months ago, so you can't know for sure that I'm this baby's father. I don't trust you, Rachel. Not anymore," I continued as Rachel scoffed at me in an attempt to act offended by my comments.

"It's yours," she responded, not willing to own up to the possibility that this baby could belong to someone else's other than mine.

"Then I need you do to something for me," I trailed off momentarily, making sure she was paying attention. "I want a DNA test."

.....

**Taylor's POV**

I ran out of the room and into the living room full of Harry and Trey's friends. There was a game of beer pong in one corner of the living room and a group of people playing some kind of card game in another corner.

I looked around briefly, intending to step out onto the patio until I noticed some people were out there, too. While I stood there, I felt embarrassed and frustrated, desperate to find a way out of the apartment so I could be alone with my thoughts.

"Taylor, you okay?" Trey caught my attention and I nodded my head.

"I just need to go outside, get some air," I explained, trying to act cool and nonchalant, hoping he didn't see the overwhelmed look on my face with tears running down my eyes.

I didn't wait to hear Trey's response when I grabbed a half-empty bottle of tequila that was sitting on one of the counters and walked out the front door. Once the door was shut and I was out in the warm air, I took a few deep breaths. I took a big swig of the alcohol, wincing at the taste and instantly regretting grabbing tequila instead of any other liquor. The burn against my throat was harsh, but somehow felt good.

I started to aimlessly walk down the sidewalk of Harry's apartment complex and continued to take more sips from the tequila bottle.

Before I went to Las Vegas and met Harry, my life was easy and simple. I went to work at my dream job, I hung out with my best friends, and slept with hot guys. Now, not only did I get married to a stranger, I fell in love with that stranger, and now his ex-girlfriend is possibly carrying his baby.

Part of me felt selfish for walking out on Harry when he begged me to stay. I saw the look in his eyes and his grip on my hands was so strong. This was probably much worse for him than for me and it pained me to have to let go and run out of that room.

I really just couldn't be in there anymore, not with the mother of my husband's child. All I could think about was the look on Harry's face anytime he talked about kids, mostly his nieces and nephews. He was even excited at the idea of meeting my niece and nephew when he came out to New York with me. Though, we didn't really talk about ourselves having kids together, I could tell he wanted them. I never really thought about having kids in my future. Not until I realized that Harry could be having a child with another woman.


	30. Outside

**Harry's POV**

Rachel scoffed and rolled her eyes at my demand to get a DNA test. I expected this kind of reaction from her. After having dated her for several months, I grew to know her well enough. She never liked when someone challenged her or tried to prove her wrong. 

"That's all I'm asking for. I want to know one hundred percent that this baby is mine and I need to be there when you get the results," I insisted. There's no way she would expect to come here and drop this bomb on me without me needing proof. 

It would be foolish of her to think I would trust her after what she had done to me when she cheated on me with her ex-boyfriend Nick. God only knows what her relationship with him is now, since last I heard, they got back together after I broke up with her. There's a good chance this baby is his and not mine, and I was really praying for that to be the case.

"Fine, Harry. I'll get a DNA test," Rachel replied curtly as she made herself comfortable and sat down on my bed. I gave her a scowl, but was too emotionally and mentally drained to put up a fight with her. I took a seat at the foot of the bed again and began to rub at my temples. 

"Tomorrow morning. It has to be tomorrow morning," I urged. I couldn't wait on this for too long. After tomorrow, I'm supposed to fly to New York and spend the week with Taylor.

"I don't think I can get an appointment that quickly, Harry. What's the rush anyway?"

I turned my head around and glared at her before turning away again. 

"The rush is that I need to know the truth before I leave for New York tomorrow."

"New York?! For what?" Rachel snapped. 

"Taylor lives there. I'm only going to visit there this week but then I plan on moving there to be with her," I answered her, attempting to explain what my plans were, even though she really didn't deserve to know. 

"You're _moving_ to New York? What about the baby?"

I stood up from the bed and faced Rachel, who was now fully laying on my bed. I ignored her current position and blamed it on her being pregnant.

"Rach, my plans are staying the same as of right now. You can't just burst in here and tell me you're having my child after you cheated on me three months ago. I moved on. I'm married to Taylor. My plans are still the same. I can't live here while she's there."

"What the fuck were you thinking marrying some bitch from New York? What, did you find her at the Hustler Club or something?"

I shook my head at her. I was not going to go into anymore detail about what happened between Taylor and I. She didn't need to know.

"It's none of your business, I've already told you more than you deserve to know," I said with a sigh. It had been a long day and I really just wanted to get to Taylor and spend the rest of the night asleep beside her. "It's been a long day, Rach. Can you please leave? I'll call you first thing in the morning and we'll go to the doctor. I don't care if your doctor won't take you. I'll take you to any doctor in the city if they can give you a paternity test."

Rachel looked at me as if she was going to argue back with what I just said. Instead, she settled further into my bed and gave me an apologetic smile.

"Can I please just lay here a while? I'm kind of tired. Just five minutes."

I sighed again as I watched her close her eyes without even waiting for me to give her an answer. I decided to let her be for a few minutes, at least until I could find Taylor. After that, I'll have to send her on her way out. 

While I made my way through the party, offering friendly smiles to some of my friends who had asked where I'd been the whole night, I started to get concerned when I didn't see Taylor. 

This was the last thing I thought would end up happening tonight. This morning, I didn't even think I'd see Taylor until I got to New York and she ended up giving me the best surprise at graduation. Ever since I saw her face in the crowd, I've felt like I was on cloud nine. I could have ended the night just laying in bed with Taylor after our reunion sex and exchanging 'I love yous' and it would have been the best night of my life so far.

The shock felt like it was starting to wear off. A million things were running through my head now, worried that Taylor could be anywhere by now. 

"Hey, did you see where Taylor went?" I asked Trey when I found him at the beer pong table, though he seemed to be preoccupied with the game. He kept his focus on getting the ping pong ball into one of the party cups before answering me.

"Uh, yeah, yeah... she was here a bit ago," he responded, a look of defeat on his face when his ball bounced on the floor. "Oh, actually, she said she wanted to get some air, I think she went outside."

I nodded at Trey's answer and made my way out the front door in search of Taylor.

....  
 **  
Taylor's POV**

I had been walking around the apartment complex for a while now, holding the bottle of tequila in my hands. It was dark out and the only lights were from the apartments and the street lights. All the apartments looked the same to me at this point and I wished I had my phone with me so I could call Harry.

Harry. Harry having a baby. Harry having a baby with Rachel.

I found a bench to sit on, feeling exhausted from the long day and took one more swig from the bottle. I set the bottle, now only a quarter of the way filled, beside me and instantly felt myself start to break down. I buried my face in my hands, resting my elbows on my knees, as I sobbed into them uncontrollably. 

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't want a boyfriend. I didn't want a husband. I don't want a step-baby. 

I started to wonder if it wasn't too late. Too late to let just leave all this behind. Leave Harry behind and pretend none of this happened. 

The moment those thoughts came into my head, I instantly felt regret. I could never think of forgetting about Harry. Despite not having planned to meet and get married to anyone in such a short amount of time, I also didn't plan on falling in love with Harry. 

Now that I've experienced the intense and blissful pleasure of being in love with Harry, I couldn't just let that go so easily. I've never had my heart broken, but I can imagine that never seeing him again would be enough to break my heart. 

Suddenly, I found myself hoping and praying that this baby wasn't Harry's. As much as I knew Harry wanted to have babies in his future, I did not want them to be with her. I wanted them to be mine. 

My tears continued to flow, only softer now, as I hear a car door shut from a few feet away. I didn't think to look up, thinking whoever it was was just going to their apartment. That was until I heard a set of footsteps headed in my direction.

"Harry?" I spoke quietly, my throat sore from the sobs and alcohol. My eyes darted up, hoping that Harry had found me. 

I was disappointed when instead, a man that wasn't Harry was walking towards me. It was too dark to see his features, so I couldn't tell if it was someone from Harry's party or just some stranger.

"You alright, over here? I couldn't help but notice you've been crying," his voice sounded friendly and kind. I turned to face him as he took a seat beside me. The glow of the streetlights reflected off his face, revealing a man probably in his early 20s with dark brown hair and a goatee. 

I was startled that he was approaching me and I scooted away a bit on the bench to give us more space in between us. 

"I'm fine," I answered him, starting to feel uncomfortable. "I just need to be alone."

I made a point not to look at him in the hopes that he'd take a hint and walk away. It didn't seem to work as he continued to sit beside me.

"Do you wanna talk about it? Maybe talking to a stranger will help."

"No, actually. I don't want to talk about it," I responded to him, this time more assertively. 

He grabbed the bottle that was sitting on the bench and took a sip of it.

"Tequila, huh?"

"I'm sorry. I'm trying to be nice here, but you're making me feel really uncomfortable. It's dark and creepy out here and I have no idea who the fuck you are. Can you please just leave me the fuck alone?"

The man put his hands up defensively the moment I asked him to leave and offered me a smile. 

"Whoa, okay. Wow, sorry, Blondie. Seems like we got off on the wrong foot here," he said, his voice still upbeat and friendly despite me telling him off. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Nick."


	31. Helpless

**Taylor's POV**

"What's your name?"

I heard the stranger continue to talk to me but I wasn't really paying attention. I was really just worried about getting back to Harry's apartment. I stood up as fast as I could, but immediately felt wobbly the moment I got up. The alcohol had kicked into my system and I found it difficult holding myself up.

"I think you should probably sit back down," he continued, grabbing hold of my arm.

"Let me go," I said as I pulled my arm from his grip, grabbed the tequila bottle from his other hand and attempted to walk away.

"Do you even know where you're going?" I could hear him walking behind me now.

"I'm going back to my boyfriend's apartment!" I exclaimed loudly as I forced myself to keep walking. I took another swig of tequila and winced again at the taste of it. I was frustrated at this point, unsure of how to get to Harry's and bothered by this creepy guy trying to talk to me.

"Okay, I'll help you, where's his apartment?"

I stopped walking for a moment and tried to think of Harry's apartment number.

"It's, uh, C53... no, C35..." I muttered, mostly to myself. I had his address saved in my phone, but without my phone, I was helpless. He was standing beside me now as I staggered on the sidewalk, hopelessly looking at the apartment doors in case I happened to find Harry's. All the doors looked the same to me. I could see the glow of his cellphone against his face as he was texting someone.

"Come on," he prompted when he turned his attention back to me. "You're obviously a bit inebriated. You can barely walk... my car is right here. Why don't you sit in there with me, I'll drive you around while you look for your boyfriend's apartment."

"Pfft, I'm not a fucking moron," I said loudly in his direction.

I didn't get a chance to say anything else when he grabbed my wrist and shoved me against a car parked on the curb. He pushed his body against mine and I felt the back of my head hit the car window.

"Get the fuck off me!" I yelled angrily.

"You're a fucking annoying bitch, you know that?" he said in a low voice as I felt his breath against my neck. I tried to push him off me but he was too strong and I was too weakened by the alcohol.

"You're a fucking asshole," I cried out, feeling one of his hands holding my arm against the car and another hand grabbing my chest. I felt powerless, unable to defend myself.

"Get in the car, Taylor."

"How'd you know my name?" I asked weakly as he opened the door to the car and forced me inside.

**Harry's POV**

I stepped out the front door and pulled my phone out of my pocket, eager to call Taylor's cell phone. While I looked around the front of the apartment for her, the phone continued to ring and ring.

"Hi, you've reached the voicemail of Taylor Swift. Please leave a message and I'll return your call."

"Taylor, it's me. Where are you? Please call me back."

I pressed on the red button to end the call before I started to look around. I sighed as I didn't see anyone nearby. There's not many places Taylor could've gone to. I noticed that my car was still in its parking spot and unless she called a cab, there's not really any other mode of transportation she could have taken.

I started to rub my eyes for a second and looked at my phone again, noticing that the time was past midnight.

 **Me:** hey, please just let me know you're ok.. and that we're ok.. xx

Though I really didn't want to worry too much, I had to think about what just happened tonight. Taylor told me she loves me. Then Taylor found out from my ex-girlfriend that she's pregnant and I might be the father.

I really couldn't tell what her state of mind was when she left the apartment. She seemed like she was in shock, so by now she could either be really mad, disappointed, or just simply freaking out. I really just wanted to find her so we could talk it through. I had to make sure she knew that no matter what happened, I still want to be with her.

My train of thought was interrupted when my phone buzzed.

 **Taylor:** i'm done, harry.. i can't do this..

 **Taylor:** it's over. i'm sorry.

I stared at the texts for way too long and started to feel numb. My heart felt like it stopped beating for a moment and I tensed up as her words hit me like a ton of bricks. How could she possibly want this after everything we went through today? I know the news of the baby was a shock, but we didn't even know if it was mine yet.

Taylor did always tell me she didn't want kids. Ever since she told me that, I hoped I'd be able to change her mind down the road. Obviously, having a baby anytime soon wouldn't be a good idea. I just figured that in a few years, we'd want to have at least one or two. 

I did have moments when I wondered just how long the relationship would last. Being married or not, we had the odds against us. But once I knew I fell in love with her, I wanted nothing more but for our relationship to work out.

 **Me:** please let's talk about this first. i don't want to lose you. i love you, taylor...

 **Me:** i know you're probably worried about this baby, but we'll get it figured out. i promise... please don't end this just like that.

Once I sent her my texts back, I went back into the apartment and attempted to call her again, but again it went to voicemail after a few rings. I felt desperate. I needed her to know that I didn't want this to end. My hands were shaking as I hurried to get past everyone and into my room. I almost forgot I left Rachel in there when I found her asleep on my bed.

"Fuck!" I shouted, slamming my fist against the wall. Feeling the pain of the punch on my knuckles, I winced and sat down on the bed. I didn't even care how much it hurt to punch the wall. The thought of losing Taylor was hurting me more.

"Harry, what the fuck? What's wrong?" Rachel came to my side, probably having been woken up by my outburst. She grabbed my hands and gasped. "You're knuckles are bleeding!"

"I don't care, Rachel," I responded to her, my voice calmer than it was moments ago. I felt warm tears against my face and I wiped them away with my free hand.

"Aw, baby," Rachel cooed quietly, leaning closer to me. "Everything's going to be okay..."

"Please stop. You're only making this worse," I said as I tore my hand out of hers.

Rachel pouted at me and put her arms around me. "I can help make you feel better. A lot better."

I leaned away from her and shook my head. "I don't need you to make you feel better. I need my wife. I need Taylor."

"Fuck Taylor. Remember how good I made you feel?" She whispered into my ear as she placed her hand under the waistband of my sweatpants.

"Fuck you, Rachel. You need to stop," I demanded from her, pushing her hand away.

As I tried to get up from the bed, she quickly leaned in and pressed her lips against mine. It took a second of her shoving her tongue into my mouth and holding her body against mine before I could process what was happening.

Immediately, I yanked myself off her and stood up from the bed. That was when I saw her standing in the doorway of my bedroom and I almost stopped breathing. My body felt frozen in place for a moment while I looked back at her.

Taylor was leaning up against the door frame, gaping at me and Rachel. She looked like she could barely hold herself up and I wondered how many drinks she's had. And then I thought about how she must have been drinking when she texted me.

"Taylor..." I said her name as my voice nearly broke at the sight of her, knowing she had just witnessed what Rachel was doing. "It's not what it looks like."

"Well, look at that..." I heard a familiar voice coming from behind her. "I brought your girlfriend back for you and you're over here making out with mine."

Nick stood next to Taylor and put his arm around her. He had a wide grin on his face as he gloated at me from across the room. As I glanced back and forth between him and Rachel, I noticed that she was grinning just as widely back at him.


	32. Pain

**Harry's POV**

My temper flared the moment I saw Nick hanging off of Taylor. I hurried to get myself across the bedroom to her side and shoved Nick off of her. I could feel my hands shaking as I picked Taylor up to carry her in my arms and brought her to the bed. When I caressed her head to lay her down, my fingers ran over a bump on the back of her head and instantly my blood started to boil. I tried to keep my composure while I kissed her forehead and covered her up with a blanket.

"You kissed her," Taylor mumbled softly, her eyes starting to close. I watched as tears began to fall from her the corners of her eyes and I wiped them away with my fingers. 

"Shh, please go to sleep, baby," I whispered to her. There was no use in explaining what happened to her while she was barely conscious. Besides, I had something else I had to take care of first. 

I watched as Taylor sleepily snuggled into the blanket and began to fall asleep. My attention went back to other two people standing in my bedroom. 

"Hallway. Now." I snapped at the two of them, though still keeping my voice low to keep from upsetting Taylor.

Rachel rolled her eyes at me yet again, taking a few seconds to actually stroll out of my room. Nick was already waiting in the hallway with a conniving smile on his face when I got out of the room and closed the door behind me. 

"What the fuck did you do to her?" I hissed, propelling my entire body against his to slam him against the wall. I kept my arms against him to hold him back but he didn't seem to be putting up a fight. 

"I didn't do shit to her," he responded, his tone seemed indifferent like he didn't care about any of this. 

"That's fucking bullshit. There's a knot on the back of her head," I informed him, though I had a feeling he knew all about it. 

His lips formed into a sinister grin. "Alright, maybe I roughed her up a little bit."

I couldn't hold myself back anymore. I let him go and took a step back. There was no hesitation whatsoever when I clenched my fist and threw a hard punch into the side of his face. 

He reacted within seconds and wrapped his arms around my waist, throwing me against the wall behind me and began punching his fist into my gut. Each jab into me only fueled my anger. I could practically feel the adrenaline in my veins. I let him give me a few more punches before I threw him to the ground and returned the favor, hitting my fist against his face over and over.

The fight probably lasted a few seconds but it felt like much longer. It wasn't long before I had two pairs of arms pulling me off Nick. 

"Harry, chill," I heard Trey's voice barking at me when I tried to pull myself out of his grip. The other guy holding me back let go almost immediately but Trey continued to hold on as long as he could. Once I let myself free, I took a few steps closer to Nick and Rachel.

"Why?! Why did you do this to her?" I yelled at both of them as Rachel went to Nick's aid. I watched as she caressed his bloodied cheek, barely paying attention to what I was saying to them. 

"Rachel!" I had to yell her name out loud again to gain her attention.

"Fuck, Harry. You wanna know why?!" Rachel said as she stood up from the floor. She patted her hands against each other before placing them on her hips. "Because I told him to. Because I just told you I'm pregnant with your fucking kid and you would rather go fly off to New York and be with the bitch. You don't give a fuck about me being pregnant and she's the reason why. So when you went to find her, I called him, he was already waiting outside for me, and I told him to find her before you did," she chuckled to herself, probably thinking what genius she was for coming up with this plan so quickly. 

"You're mental. You both are. What were you trying to accomplish? That you'd hurt me by hurting her?" I shook my head in disbelief that they would go to such extremes just to bring me pain. 

Nick started to get up from the floor, wiping his sleeve on his cheek to wipe off the blood. It made no sense to me why Nick would want to help Rachel hurt me. His own girlfriend was asking him to ruin my relationship with Taylor. 

"What did you have to gain from this?" I turned my attention to Nick, trying to understand his intentions in this. 

Nick shrugged his shoulders and smirked at me. "I like fucking with people."

"You're a fucking piece of shit, Nick," I told him as I began to feel a pain on my knuckles. I looked down at my fist and saw blood slowly gushing out of a small wound. I smeared my knuckles on my shirt, not really caring about the blood or pain at the moment. 

"Yeah, I am, but I love Rachel. I'll do anything she asks me," he responded, his eyes looking back at his girlfriend who was beaming at him. 

"And the fact that she might be carrying my kid? She's trying to pull me back into her life and you don't give a shit?"

"Look at it this way... if that kid isn't mine, I'd be fucking blessed. I'd have no responsibility for that kid. Financially or otherwise," he explained. "With you being the father, you'd be the one having to pay for shit. And I'd still get the girl."

"Trust me, asshole, she's not a fucking prize. She's a piece of shit just like you." 

The look of anger came back to Nick's face and just as he started to come at me, Trey stood in between us and brought his hands up in case he needed to defend himself. 

"You need to leave our apartment right now," Trey ordered, looking at both Nick and Rachel. 

"I'll walk them out for you," I heard a voice behind me say. It took a second for me to realize who the other person who helped Trey pull me off Nick was, our neighbor Will. I decided it was probably best that they did that before I went too far. 

The experience I've had with fighting before this happened at the gym, when Trey and I got a workout from taking our aggression out by sparring and hitting punching bags. It was only when I came to the realization that Nick laid a finger on Taylor and hurt her that pushed me to inflict pain on him.

I stood in the hallway for a while, just studying my bloodied knuckle and thinking about how I was going to handle this. I could hear Trey saying goodbye to the guests who were still in the apartment. I assumed the fight was enough chaos for Trey to want to end the party.

I washed my hands quickly in the bathroom and wrapped a bandage over my knuckles before I went back into my bedroom to find Taylor still asleep. I laid back on the other side of the bed, finding her cellphone under the sheets and placed it on the nightstand beside her. 

My mind was running through a million thoughts while I watched her sleep in front of me. The last thing I wanted was to hurt Taylor. Yet, in one night, I managed to get her hurt both physically and emotionally. 

.....  
 **  
Taylor's POV**

The pain in my head was intense as I woke up and became aware of where I was and what happened last night. The events from the night before were a blur, but there were a few things that I remembered happening after I had a few sips of tequila. The memories I had weren't as clear as I wanted, but I vaguely remember being shoved against a car and watching as Harry was on his bed with his lips pressed against Rachel's.

While the vision of them kissing was clear in my head, I still had trouble believing that it actually happened. I never imagined Harry doing something like that. 

I shuffled in bed and turned to face Harry, though his back was turned the opposite direction. I noticed that he realized I was awake when his body slightly twitched. I was startled when he actually turned his body towards mine. His eyes were bloodshot red and his lips were trembling. I gaped at him, stunned by the expression he had on his face. 

"Harry, what's wrong?"

That was the moment Harry began to break down in tears. 

"I can't do this to you," he managed to cry out. 

"Do what to me? Harry, what are you trying to say?" I wrapped my arms around him and let him rest his head on my chest as he sobbed uncontrollably. I began to panic and wonder why he was acting this way and why he couldn't stop crying. It killed me to hear and feel his sobs against my chest.

We sat in silence for such a long time as I held him in my arms that I didn't even know how much time had passed. I didn't want to push him to speak until he was ready. 

When he finally pulled away from me, he wiped away his tears with his hands. I noticed cuts and bruises on his knuckles and pulled his hands towards me so I could examine them.

"Harry, what happened?!"

"It's a long story," he mumbled, gently taking back his hand away from me. 

"What's going on?" I asked him, desperate for answers.

Harry took a deep breath. "I need to stay here and figure things out with Rachel. I don't know how long it's going to take, if we'll even get to take a DNA test today or get the results right away..." his voice was raspy and strained as he explained to me what his plans were now. "I'm sorry I upset you last night. I want you to know that I won't stop fighting for you or loving you. But for now, I'll let you go. You don't deserve to go through what I put you through last night."

I took in everything he said and I felt upset by how he was so willing to let me go. Why did he think I wanted him to let me go? I thought about how I witnessed him kissing Rachel and wondered if he was feeling guilty about it now. The thought of him still having any feelings for her made me sick, but I couldn't fight the possibility that maybe he still had a strong connection to her. 

"You kissed Rachel last night," I said quietly, letting my eyes wander over to the spot on the bed they were sitting on.

"She kissed me. I didn't kiss her. I promise you. I pulled away the moment it happened," he responded quickly and firmly. I could hear the sincerity in his voice and I felt compelled to believe him. 

"So that's it then? We go our separate ways?" I had to force myself to keep my voice steady but my eyes were starting to water and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. 

"I think it's for the best," Harry spoke with his eyes looking down.


	33. Distant

**Taylor's POV**

There were so many things I wanted to say to Harry, but I couldn't bring myself to actually say them. It was clear to me that this whole situation with him and Rachel was tearing him apart. He wasn't prepared to find out he could be a father. Harry would tell me that Rachel was his past and he never intended to see or even think about her again once he left Las Vegas to be with me. Never did either of us think she'd come back into his life this way. 

I wanted to tell Harry that I didn't want him to just let me go like this. How could I just walk away from him after everything we've been through? The last thing I wanted was to end things with Harry. Hearing the pain in his voice and the guttural sound of his sobs only made me want to hold him even tighter and never let go. 

If he was going to go through this huge mess, I wanted to be there for him. But I just couldn't find it in me to question his decision to go our separate ways. I just had to respect that he wanted to take this time to focus on what was going on with Rachel. I also had to respect his decision to want to do this without me.

After telling me he wanted to go our separate ways, Harry excused himself out of his room and left me alone to get ready to leave. Once I was ready, Harry drove me to the airport and we spent the entire car ride in silence. Not the comfortable and relaxing silence we used to have when we'd be on the phone with each other throughout the night. This silence was deafening and torturous. Every time I'd try to look him in the eyes, he'd turn away and look in another direction. He didn't look at me once the entire ride to the airport. 

Even when we got to the airport, he continued to be distant. Harry kept his head down as he walked me into the airport and barely said a word to me. It was hard to believe that less than twenty four hours ago, we had said 'I love you' to each other. 

When it was time to say goodbye, I gave him a long hug and took in every second. I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck and breathed in his scent. The fresh smell of his aftershave and the coconut from his shampoo was a mixture that I didn't want to ever forget. 

The entire time I held him, I wanted to say those three little words to him that I said the night before. It took everything in me to hold it back. I just knew that saying it would be even more painful now that we were saying goodbye. 

Once I had gotten through airport security, I ran into the nearest restroom and locked myself into a stall. I couldn't hold the tears back anymore and I just let it all go. I sobbed quietly in the stall, unable to force myself to stop. 

I finally was able to calm myself down and got out of the restroom. My flight was about to board and I actually felt like I had cried myself out so much that there just wasn't anymore tears left in me. 

Right before the flight left, I held my phone in my hands and decided I couldn't be alone once I got back to New York. I pressed on Ivy's name and waited for her to answer.

"Hey, it's me," I said once she picked up. "I'll be in New York in 6 hours. Can you, Nat and Avery please come over tonight? I have a lot I need to catch you up on."

.....

The moment I got to my apartment, my best friends were already waiting for me with pints of beer and ice cream. I guess Ivy could tell from the tone of my voice that something went wrong while I was in Las Vegas. 

I went into full detail about what happened between me and Harry including every single thing that happened once Rachel walked into Harry's bedroom. The pregnancy news, me walking out and getting drunk, Nick hurting me, Harry fighting Nick, and everything that happened between Harry and I this morning.

"I know you love him, Taylor. I can tell just by the way you talk about him. It takes a lot of strength to walk away from him the way you did," Ivy said sympathetically once I finished talking.

"As much as you love Harry, do you think your relationship would be the same if he became a father to another woman's baby?" Natalie questioned. The question was blunt, but I couldn't blame her for asking. I've had the same question in my head, too.

I hesitated, thinking about my answer. I've ran the different scenarios in my head over and over. If Harry and I were to last, then their baby would be part of our lives forever. If Harry and I were to have kids, they'd have an older half-sibling. It'd be painful to see Harry being a father to someone else's baby before he became a father to any of our potential children. 

"It wouldn't be the same. It'd be complicated. But I think..." I trailed off as I let out a breath. "I love him enough to go through all of that. My love for him has so much potential to grow... and I'd support him and be there for him."

The three of them just looked at me apologetically. They probably felt sorry for me that I was going through all of this. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, feeling powerless and unable to really do anything about my situation. 

"I think you need to talk to him again," Ivy blurted out. "Tell him that you want to be there for him. I mean, he's your husband. You're married to him. You already started your relationship with a huge hurdle and managed to get past it and make the best of it."

I shook my head as I remembered the way Harry acted when he dropped me off at the airport. He couldn't even look at me and barely even said goodbye. 

"He told me he wouldn't stop fighting for me and loving me, yet he was so distant when it was time for me to leave. It felt so... final."

I sat quietly for a moment until Avery stood up from the couch and looked down at me. "Call him. It sounds like he's just scared. Maybe it seems like he's pushing you away, but really, he just doesn't know what he wants."

The advice Avery was giving me was rather surprising coming from her. Avery rarely offered advice about love. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard her giving relationship advice before. 

"Wow, Avery," Natalie began, a small smile crept on her face. "Since when did you become a love doctor?"

I let out a chuckle at her comment and watched as Avery rolled her eyes at the both of us. It was nice to let a little bit of humor into the conversation since I haven't genuinely found a reason to laugh or smile since the night before. 

"Let's not talk about me. This is about Taylor right now," Avery huffed as she sat back down on the couch. I smirked at her and remembered the last time I saw her, in the cab with a certain redheaded man from the bar. 

"So you and Teddy really hit it off the other night, huh?" I snickered as I teased her, causing the Ivy and Natalie to laugh along with me. 

"I said we're not talking about me," Avery said in a demanding tone, though I could see her cheeks start to blush.

"We're going on a double date tomorrow night," Natalie responded for her. "Ave and Teddy are setting me up with that guy Dan." 

I offered Natalie a smile and I was glad to hear some good news coming from them. It was a nice distraction from what was going through my head, even for a little bit. 

"Call him, or even just text him, don't let him think this is all over," Avery said again, grabbing my phone from the coffee table and placing it into my hands. 

My heart felt like it was beating faster now. I took a deep breath and flashed a look towards each of my friends. They all looked at me encouragingly, which helped my nerves. I went into my texts so I could text Harry when I read what the last texts between us were. 

**Me:** i'm done, harry.. i can't do this..

**Me:** it's over. i'm sorry.

**Harry:** please let's talk about this first. i don't want to lose you. i love you, taylor...

**Harry:** i know you're probably worried about this baby, but we'll get it figured out. i promise... please don't end this just like that.

I read the texts over and over, utterly and completely confused by what I was looking at. I know I was drunk that night, but these weren't drunk texts. I never sent these texts to Harry. But Harry must have believed that I sent these to him.

"What the fuck," I breathed out, frozen in place. My mind was reeling as I thought about how this could've happened. 

"What is it, Tay?" I heard Natalie ask. 

I couldn't get a word out. I just kept trying to figure out who could possibly have sent these text to Harry from my phone. Then I realized just how much it didn't make sense at first why Harry was willing to let me go and why he was distant with me. Even though he said he would continue to fight for me and love me, he was still willing to give up. It was because he was under the impression that I was the one who wanted to end it. 

Suddenly, it all became clear to me. Rachel had my phone last night.


	34. The Doctor

**Harry's POV**

When I had to leave Taylor at the airport, it took everything in me not to beg her to stay. But I had to remember the messages she sent me the night before after finding out about Rachel being pregnant. It was too much for her. Throughout the entire morning that I was with Taylor, I forced myself not to look directly at her. It was just too difficult to see her face, especially when I really didn't know if I'd ever be able to see her again. I even did my best not to speak to her because I didn't want to say anything that would upset our situation even more. 

Now I found myself sitting in my car at the airport, alone and unsure of what my future would be like. I had to get started on finding out the truth about Rachel's baby. I really didn't even know how fast they'd be able to get results. Ideally, I hoped it would be immediate, but I really don't have a clue how long it'd take. 

Once I got back to the apartment, I called Rachel right away and asked her to be ready in a half hour so I could take her to the doctor. She tried to talk her way out of it, insisting that her doctor wouldn't be able to see her today, but I told her the same thing I said last night. I didn't care if we had to go to every doctor in the city. I had to find out. She reluctantly gave me the doctor's office number and I called to see if they had any openings. The receptionist that answered said they were booked but we could wait in the office in case one of the patients with an appointment canceled. 

"So I was thinking about baby names," Rachel said excitedly once she hopped into my car. I looked back at her and shook my head, not willing to talk about this subject yet. Rachel ignored me and continued to talk. "If it's a boy, I was thinking James... if it's a girl, maybe Alexis." 

"We're not talking about this right now, Rachel," I said with a sigh.

That wasn't enough for her because during the rest of the drive, she wouldn't stop talking about more ideas for the baby. The theme of the baby's room, when to have a baby shower, if the baby would take her last name or mine. I was so annoyed that I ended up drowning her out with the radio.

We waited for about two hours in the doctor's waiting room and the longer we waited, Rachel kept trying to convince me to leave. She almost walked out after the first hour and I had to beg her to stay. I practically jumped out of my seat when the receptionist finally called us up.

A nurse led us to an exam room and we both took a seat to wait for the doctor. As we sat in the exam room, Rachel kept rubbing her belly and smiling back at me. She wasn't showing much at this point in the pregnancy since she was only about three months along, so you couldn't really tell that she was pregnant yet. 

"I'm so not looking forward to my body blowing up like a balloon," Rachel complained, scrunching her face in disgust. 

"I think that's the least of your worries," I remarked as the door in the exam room opened. 

"Hello Miss Gray," the doctor greeted us once he entered the room with a clipboard in hand. "My name is Dr. Cohen," he introduced himself to me and shook my hand. The doctor was quite young looking, probably in his late 20s. "What's the reason for this visit? Have you been feeling well?" 

"I'm fine, doctor..." Rachel answered him, glancing back and forth between me and him before she gestured her hand towards me. "This is Harry Styles. I told him he's the father, but he wants proof."

The doctor nodded his head and examined the chart for a moment before looked back at the two of us.

"Well, unfortunately, there's not much I can do about getting a DNA sample out of the fetus, especially for the sole purpose of a paternity test. It's a dangerous risk to test the baby before it's born. The only way we would be able to do so is if there's a possibility of a medical emergency and it doesn't seem like that's the case here. You'll have to wait for the baby to be born to test the DNA."

I found myself unable to move when the doctor told me we couldn't test the baby's DNA. That meant I had to wait not just a few days, but a few months to find out. If Rachel's three months pregnant, I'd have to wait six more months to find out the truth. My hands were trembling and I felt myself start to panic. I can't wait that long. I can't let Taylor wait that long. A lot could happen in six months. The thought of not getting to see or talk to Taylor for six months while I wait for this baby to be born made me want to throw up. 

"Well, I guess that's that, then," Rachel said with a smile as she sat up from her chair. She looked down at me and I began to just stare at her stomach. "Harry, come on, let's go. There's nothing else we can do."

"Mr. Styles, I really do apologize for the inconvenience. I know it must be difficult not knowing..." the doctor said, looking at me apologetically. I wondered how many times he must have had to go through this situation in the past. I'm sure I'm not the only guy that's had to ask for a paternity test from someone he might have gotten pregnant. "But you'll find out soon enough. The next seven months of Rachel's pregnancy will fly by so fast th-"

"Wait... seven months?!" I interrupted him once I heard him say how long it'd take before Rachel was due. I immediately stood up and looked the doctor in the eye. "How far along is she?"

The doctor took a quick look at Rachel before he looked down at the chart in front of him. I didn't take my eyes off the doctor as I waited for him to answer me. If Rachel had been lying about how far along she was, then the baby definitely wasn't mine. 

"Rachel is only two months along," the doctor clarified after he finished reading off her chart. "She's due in seven months."

Hearing the truth come out of his mouth hit me like a truck. While it was a huge relief to know for sure that the baby wasn't mine, just knowing that Rachel went through so much trouble to lie about this made me sick. 

"I'll give you two a moment," Dr. Cohen said as he lowered his head and stepped out of the room, probably realizing from my reaction that there was more to this than he wanted to involve himself with. 

I took a deep breath, attempting to keep myself from losing my temper and ran my hands over my face and through my hair. 

"Rachel, are you fucking kidding me?" 

"Harry, wait... let me explain," Rachel finally spoke in a small voice as she came closer to me. I stepped away from her, something I've had to do a lot lately because she couldn't stop trying to get close to me. 

"Alright, fine. I wanna hear this," I said as I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms at her. 

Rachel looked down at the ground for a few seconds, hesitating to begin speaking. 

"Okay, I know you're not the father. I just didn't know what else to do. When I found out I was pregnant, I panicked. Nick will not be a good father. He can barely take care of himself. You, Harry... you're mature and you work so hard. You're finished with school and... you could provide for us."

I stared blankly at her, unable to process what she just admitted to me. It took a few seconds to put together a response.

"So, you thought you'd lie to me and basically sabotage my relationship with someone. Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

"I did what I had to to try to get you back. I figured that by the time the baby was born and you met him or her, you would fall in love right away. And I thought that during my pregnancy, I'd find a way to get you to want to be with me again." 

"You're fucking sick, Rachel," I muttered to her as I tried to wrap my head around this. "And Nick? Does he know about your twisted little plan?"

"Nick doesn't know everything. I told him you were the father because if he found out that he's actually the father, he'd run away so fast."

"You two are fucking made for each other." 

"Harry, please, I'm sorry," she begged, her face looking genuinely remorseful. I looked away from her. She lost my trust months ago, I should have known better to believe anything she's said to me since she cheated on me. I never realized how good of an actress she was.

"You basically drove Taylor away from me. Ever since last night, you put us through hell. Was that part of your plan, too? To break us up?"

"I have to admit, I was pissed when I saw her with you there last night. Especially when you told her to stay when I told you about being pregnant. And that she's your _wife_?!" Rachel raised her voice and let out a bitter laugh. "I had to get rid of her. I called Nick and told him to find her and bring her back to your apartment. I didn't tell him it was so she could see us when I made a move on you. And then she was so stupid to leave her fucking cellphone in your room when she left. She made it so easy to fool you both."

"What are you talking about?" I questioned her, caught off guard by her last comment. "You had Taylor's phone? Last night, _you_ were the one texting me from her phone?!"

The only reason I was so willing to let Taylor leave was because I thought it was what she wanted. When she found out Rachel was pregnant, I thought she was so overwhelmed and upset that she didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I was shocked to hear what Rachel just told me but I felt so stupid for falling for it. Taylor didn't want to end our relationship. Rachel did. 

"Hey, it worked," Rachel said with a smug look on her face. "For a while at least. Until the fucking doctor couldn't keep his mouth shut. This plan was going to work." 

"Well, your plan failed, so wipe that fucking look off your face. We're leaving," I demanded, throwing the door wide open so we could get out of this doctor's office. 

I drove Rachel back to her apartment and ignored all the excuses and rants Rachel had to tell me on the way there. I was so furious at her that I didn't care how desperate and afraid she was. 

"Get the fuck out of my car. I'm sorry your life is so pathetic and that you're bringing such an innocent life into this world while you can't even control your own life," I told her as I drove up to the front of her apartment. "From now on, don't fucking call, text, or try to see me. This is the last time you're ever gonna see me."

Rachel gave me the nastiest look as she got out of the car and slammed the door. I didn't wait a second before driving off without even looking back at the rear-view mirror. 

Now that a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I had more important things to take care of. I need to get Taylor back.


	35. Go

**Taylor's POV**

The realization that Rachel had texted Harry from my phone, essentially to fool Harry into thinking I wanted to break up with him, angered me to my core. It even made me anxious now because if Harry turns out to be the father, he has to raise a child with someone so conniving and manipulative. 

It baffled me that she was still trying to manipulate Harry even when she had her own boyfriend to worry about. Harry had already told her that we were married and even that didn't seem to stop her. 

I handed my phone to Natalie so that she could read the text messages. She held it out for Avery and Ivy to read, as well, and they all quietly gasped at the same time. 

"Taylor... why'd you send these to Harry?" Ivy asked, her face filled with confusion.

"I didn't," I responded defensively, shaking my head. "Harry's ex must have found my phone last night in Harry's bedroom and texted Harry to make him think I wanted to break up with him."

"What the fuck? Who does this bitch think she is?!" Avery asked angrily. "I'll beat her up if you want me to. I've been taking boxing classes..." 

"Ave, she's three months pregnant," I pointed out, finding it a little bit amusing how quick Avery was to want to defend me against someone she didn't even know. "Besides, there's been enough violence."

"Oh, right..." she responded simply. 

"You need to tell him. You're going to tell him you didn't send these, aren't you?" Natalie questioned as she handed my phone back to me. 

My eyes went back to the text messages and thought about what I needed to do. On one hand, I didn't want Harry to think I wanted our relationship to end. I know I felt really apprehensive about it all when Rachel first told us the news about the baby, but that wasn't enough for me to want to break up with him. 

On the other hand, I knew Harry wanted to figure this whole paternity situation with Rachel and keep me out of the mess that was going on between him, Rachel and Rachel's boyfriend, Nick. He said this morning that he didn't want to put me through what happened last night. Maybe it was best to give him some space. 

"I-I don't know. It's all just so fucked up, guys," I said reluctantly, unsure of what I needed to do. 

Despite everything that's happened, nothing could change the the way I feel about Harry. He's managed to come into my life and turn my whole world upside down. The way we found each other was purely by a stroke of luck. Our instant attraction to each other brought us together, but it was the drunken spontaneity to get married that kept us together. 

Harry was the one that really pushed for me to give our relationship a chance. It could've ended so quickly with just a simple annulment but it was Harry that looked on the brighter side of every situation and thought to make the best of it. 

Throughout our relationship, Harry really brought out a side of me that I didn't think was there, the side of me that actually could love someone and be loved at the same time. I couldn't even believe how fast I could fall for someone in such a short amount of time. I even tried to fool everyone, especially myself, that I wasn't in love with him. He really brought so much love and happiness into my life that I didn't think was possible. I could't let that go for anything. 

"I have to go. I need to go back," I mumbled as I got up from my couch and scrambled over to my bedroom. 

"Go back? Go back to Vegas?" I heard Ivy ask from the living room, her voice getting closer as all of them hurried over to my room. 

"Yes. I need to see him. I need to tell him that I want to be with him, baby or no baby. I need to tell him that I'm committed to him and he needs to be standing right in front of me when I tell him," I stated, my breathing was erratic now as I started to shuffle through my belongings, trying to find everything I'd need to have with me to go to the airport. Luckily, I didn't unpack my luggage yet, so I didn't need to pack any clothes. I just needed to make sure my purse had my wallet and my phone. 

"You're just going to fly back to Las Vegas? Can't you just call him and tell him it's been a big misunderstanding?" Ivy suggested, looking back at me worriedly. She has always been the most levelheaded one, and it made sense in a way to just call him and tell him. But that's not enough. I need to physically be with him.

"No, I'm going," I said firmly, pausing to focus on my three best friends. I needed to reassure them that this was something I had to do. "I love you guys, thank you for being here for me. You guys can hang out here the rest of the night if you want to, but I have to go."

"Go, Taylor," Avery cheered excitedly.

They all smiled widely at me and I was relieved that they all understood what I had to do.

I managed to get my things ready in just a matter of minutes and found a flight leaving for Las Vegas in about an hour. Natalie, Avery and Ivy all stayed at the apartment while I went to get a cab to head out to the airport, determined to get to my husband.

.....

**Harry's POV**

After dropping off Rachel back at her apartment, I thought about just how much her lies have affected me. I reflected back to the entire time we had dated and I was glad that she didn't fool me bad enough for me to fall in love with her. Even though catching her with Nick hurt me, it would've hurt me twice as badly if I had been in love with her. In a way, I'm glad she did cheat on me with Nick so I didn't have to blindly stay with her for longer than I could have. Her presence was toxic and all she did to me was hurt and deceive me. 

Taylor was the exact opposite of that. 

The moment she first caught my eye, I swear, it was like a breath of fresh air. Her personality was just so genuine and intriguing. I wanted to know more about her without even having said more than a few words to her. And when I finally did get a chance to talk to her and get to know her, I knew there was no turning back. 

Someone once told me that love is timeless and limitless. The amount of time you've known someone shouldn't affect your ability to love them. There's a reason the idea of love at first sight exists and why it's been around for ages and ages. Not all situations are the same. Not every couple encounter love the same way. 

I fell in love with Taylor faster than I could have ever expected. 

It didn't take long for me to figure out what I needed to do next to save my relationship. I didn't even hesitate. I knew exactly what I had to do and where I had to go.

My heart was beating rapidly as I walked through an unfamiliar street with my phone in one hand and a duffle bag in the other. I had tried calling Taylor ever since I got back to my apartment earlier, but it went straight to voicemail. I was a bit concerned that I wasn't able to reach her, but I figured she probably just had her phone off. 

It was late at night and I was exhausted after such a long and stressful day, but at this point, I couldn't let that get in the way of what I was about to do. 

The GPS on my phone alerted me that I arrived at my destination and I looked up at the tall building that I was standing in front of. A friendly doorman welcomed me into the building as I walked through the door and I stepped inside the large lobby area. 

The inside of the building was really impressive, furnished with lavish looking furniture and expensive looking artwork. I looked at the address again to make sure I knew where I was going when I got into an elevator and selected the floor I needed to get to.

I entered the hallway and led myself to the correct door. I took a few deep breaths to calm my self down before I knocked on the door. I looked down at my feet as I waited for the door to be answered, expecting to see the face I've been seeing in my head ever since I first saw it. The pair of light blue eyes, soft pale skin with a hint of pink on her cheeks, and the unmistakable blonde hair.

The door opened after a moment and my eyes darted back up and instead of who I expected to see, I found different familiar face answering the door, along with two other familiar faces directly behind her.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" 

"Hi Natalie... ladies..." I responded to Natalie and nodded my head towards Ivy and Avery as a look of shock came over their faces. I offered her a friendly and enthusiastic smile. "Is Taylor home?"


	36. Photograph

Each of the three women standing in front of me flashed looks at one another before turning their attention back to me. I looked around behind them in the apartment to see if Taylor was around at all, but there was no sign of her.

"Harry, come on in," Ivy said as she motioned her hands towards the inside of the apartment to invite me inside. 

"What's going on? Where's Taylor?" I asked as I walked in and set my bag on the ground. 

"Uh, Taylor actually flew back to Vegas..." Natalie informed me, her words were slow and hesitant as she told me where Taylor was.

My eyes went wide as I shook my head in disbelief. "Are you serious? Why?"

Avery rolled her eyes at me and clicked her tongue as if I had asked a dumb question. "She went back for you, dummy." 

Once I realized that they weren't kidding and that Taylor actually flew all the way back to Las Vegas for me, I could barely hold myself up with my own legs. I took a seat on the couch and shuffled my hair around nervously.

"What made her decide to go?" I asked, trying to figure out what revelation she could have had to change her mind. When she left me in Las Vegas, our goodbye was kind of half-hearted and I convinced myself it was because I didn't want that goodbye to be our last goodbye. But from the way we left things, I thought she didn't have a reason to come back for me. 

"She-" Avery started to talk when Natalie cleared her throat and glared at her. 

"I think it's probably best if Taylor tell you what's going on," Natalie suggested as she looked at Avery and Ivy again. "She left New York about three hours ago. I think her flight should be landing there at about 9:45 pm." 

I looked at my watch, which was still set in the local time for Las Vegas, and saw that I still had a few hours before her flight was supposed to land. 

"Alright, I'll call her. Were you guys staying here tonight or something?" I asked, confused as to why they were all still hanging out at Taylor's apartment after she left. 

"We were just about to leave. When Taylor got back from Vegas, she had us over and we ordered dinner, but then Taylor decided to leave, so we stayed..." Ivy explained. "I think she'd probably want you to stay here tonight."

I nodded my head and looked around at Taylor's apartment. I only remembered seeing what the place looked like from the times that I'd facetime with Taylor. The size and decor of the apartment was impressive, especially for someone living by themselves. 

I already knew that Taylor made a pretty decent living from the PR firm, but she had also mentioned that her family came from money. She told me she didn't like to talk about it much, so I didn't question any further on the subject. None of that really mattered to me anyway, but it was good to know that she had the means to support herself.

"Harry, you should know that you mean a lot to Taylor," Ivy spoke up, catching my attention as I turned to face her. She smiled at me first, then exchanged smiles with Avery and Natalie. "We've never seen her as happy as she's been since she met you."

The three of them started to wander towards the apartment door to head out, but before I could let Taylor's best friend's words sink in, Avery turned back to look at me. Her eyes stared at me intently and I felt a sudden sense of worry. 

"Do not hurt her, Styles. Or we'll come after you," Avery threatened, though I didn't blame her for being protective of her best friend. 

"I love her. I promise I'll never hurt her," I genuinely responded to all three of them. 

There was a quick moment where we exchanged expressions of a silent agreement between all four of us. I knew where they were coming from and I hoped that they felt the same about me. We all genuinely care for Taylor and I was really glad that she had friends that were so supportive and protective of her.

"Good night, Harry," the three of them said almost at the same time as they walked out and shut the door.

I stood alone in Taylor's apartment and glanced back down at my watch to check the time, foolishly hoping that Taylor's plane was close to landing already. 

With one more look around the living room, I wandered over to Taylor's bedroom. I noticed the bed was still neatly made and the room was decorated even nicer than Taylor's living room. 

I sat down on the bed and started to take off my shoes when I noticed a few picture frames on her nightstand. There were three picture frames, one with her, her sister, and her parents, one with her niece and nephew, and the last one was one was of me and her. 

I had never seen the picture before now and I wondered how she could have gotten it. After taking the frame in my hands and closely examining it, I realized she must have contacted the wedding chapel because in the frame was a professional photograph of the two of us at our wedding.


	37. Romantic

**Taylor's POV**

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Las Vegas. The time is 9:00 pm, we've arrived a little bit earlier than planned..." I heard the pilot begin to announce over the speakers. I started to get feelings of déjà vu, remembering the flight I took with my best friends a little less than a month ago. I couldn't even believe how little time it's been since then because it's felt like much longer than that. 

It's funny to think how different my state of mind was before. All I cared about doing while in Vegas was to get drunk and fuck some hot guys. Now, everything has changed. I don't care about getting drunk anymore and there's only one hot guy I'm thinking about fucking. And not just fucking. I want to just touch him and hold him and get to look into his eyes again. I never experienced the beauty in just being intimate with someone without even having sex.

As I made my way out of the plane with my belongings, I headed straight for the taxis to get a cab to Harry's house. I almost laughed to myself as I thought about the fact that my day began with me leaving Harry and Las Vegas. Now I'm back in less than a day determined to get Harry back. 

The cab ride to Harry's apartment was pretty quick and before I knew it, I was standing in front of his apartment door. There was a light on inside and I wondered if he was in there alone or if Trey was home, too. 

I sighed heavily and waited a few seconds as I tried to gain the courage to knock on the door. I didn't even know why I was so nervous, but there was a lot riding on seeing Harry again. 

For the past twenty four hours, Harry has thought that I wanted to break up with him. I needed to find some way to prove to him that I never wanted to break up and that it was Rachel who tricked the both of us. 

Then I started to think about what has been going on with Harry since I last left him. Almost a whole day has passed since I've seen or spoken to him and so much could have happened since then. Did he take Rachel to the doctor? Did they take the DNA test? I had so many questions in my head that I needed to ask him and I didn't even know where to start.

I finally knocked on the door and waited for an answer. I could hear footsteps on the wood floor coming closer and once the door finally opened, I was quite startled. 

The woman standing in front of me inside Harry's apartment had long blonde hair, deep brown eyes and caramel colored skin. She only had on a plain white t-shirt that was long enough that it could be a dress. Everything about her was beautiful and stunning.

"Hi, can I help you?" She asked me as I stood frozen in front of her. 

Harry couldn't have some random girl in his apartment. It hasn't even been a day since we broke up. This can't be happening. Harry could not be doing this to me. He wouldn't do this to me.

I stared at her for longer than I should have and finally shook myself out of my trance. 

"I'm looking for Harry," I responded as assertively as I could. I didn't want her to see any sign of weakness from me. It was already bad enough that Rachel had seen me at my weakest moment, I didn't need another one of Harry's girlfriends to see me that way. 

"Harry's not home," she replied, stepping away from the entrance. I walked into the apartment, carrying my luggage with me and stood in the living room with the gorgeous stranger. 

"Do you know when he'll be back?" I asked curiously, wondering why she was here if Harry wasn't. 

"Uh, I don't know. I'll go ask Trey," she answered as she walked towards Trey's bedroom. It didn't take long for Trey to appear from his room with a surprised look on his face. 

"Taylor, you're early... I was supposed to get you from the airport," Trey said as he walked towards me. 

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, confused by his statement. "My flight got here early," I informed him. "But wait, hold on... how did you know to pick me up? How did you even know I was coming?"

The blonde came up to Trey's side as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. I let out a huge sigh of relief, coming to the conclusion that this was Trey's girlfriend and she wasn't here at Harry's apartment for Harry.

"Harry. He called me earlier and asked me to pick you up from the airport at 9:30."

None of this was making sense to me. How would Harry know that I was coming back to Las Vegas? Did my friends tell Harry while I was on my flight?

"If he knew I was coming, then where is he?" I asked, my voice so jittery. 

"He went to New York to see you," Trey answered me. It took a few seconds to register what he just said to me. 

"I hope you're kidding," I said, staring into Trey's hazel eyes to see if there was even a hint of humor in them. 

Trey shook his head and rubbed his scruffy jaw with his fingers. "I'm not kidding. Call him, he's in your apartment."

I looked down at my phone and stared at the picture of Harry I had on my lockscreen. 

Harry went to New York today. He's in New York right now. 

"I'm Cherry, by the way," the blonde introduced herself, a winning smile on her lips.

"I'm Taylor," I said to her, returning her smile with one of my own.

"Hey, babe, why don't you start the movie and I'll make us some popcorn?" Trey suggested to Cherry, who simply nodded her head in response and sauntered back into Trey's bedroom. He turned his attention back to me and gave me a playful smirk. "I can't believe you two both decided to fly to the opposite side of the country to see each other. I always knew Styles was a cheesy romantic." 

Trey let out a laugh and caused me to laugh. I couldn't believe it myself, but now that I had a moment to let it sink in, I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. 

"He told me to tell you to call him as soon as possible, by the way," Trey said while he began to microwave some popcorn. "Are you staying here tonight or are you going to go back to New York now?"

I didn't even think about what to do next. Should Harry come back here? Should I go back there? It probably made more sense for me to fly back to New York at this point. Especially when Harry was planning on coming to New York this week anyway. 

"I'm not sure..." I trailed off, anxious to call Harry from my phone. 

"You should get some rest. Sleep in Harry's room. Harry explicitly told me that this apartment is partly yours now that you're married. Make yourself at home."

"Thanks, Trey. I guess it's probably a good idea to just stay and get a good night's rest. I can go back in the morning." 

Trey nodded his head while he pulled out the popcorn and dumped its contents in a big bowl. 

"Good thinking," he replied, walking towards his room. "'Night, Taylor. And I'm sorry if we're loud," he announced loudly, winking at me as he entered his room. I let out a chuckle as I heard his door close and I drew my attention back to my phone.

I dialed Harry's phone within seconds, hearing the phone ring and ring. Just as I was about to hang up, the ringing stopped and I could hear a few breaths and grunts on the other line. 

"Taylor?" I listened to his voice and smiled to myself, hearing the voice he had when he's just woken up. 

"You're in New York," I stated.

"You're in Las Vegas," he responded in his raspy voice. 

"Maybe we should have called each other first before getting on a flight," I commented and chuckled. I could hear him let out a weak laugh on his side of the call. "Did you just take a nap?"

"Yeah, but I set an alarm for 9:30. I've been waiting for your flight to arrive... Did Trey pick you up from the airport?" 

"No, actually. My flight landed early so I took a cab to your apartment." 

"I feel like such a fool right now," he breathed out. "I'm sorry this whole day's been fucked up."

"Harry, no... I'm actually- I don't know. I'm overwhelmed but I'm really just amazed by this. It's really romantic, to be honest. You flew to New York for me."

"You flew to Las Vegas for me. Again."

I smiled widely as I went into Harry's room and closed the door behind me. I got into his bed and covered myself with his duvet.

"I have something important to tell you..." I began to say just as Harry quietly shushed me, keeping me from continuing.

"I have something important to tell you, too," he responded, his voice serious now. "Let's just wait till we're together in person."

"Okay," I simply replied back. It was weird to be in Harry's room this time instead of my own and talking to Harry on the phone the way we've been talking to each other for the past few weeks. 

"I found our wedding photo in your room," Harry spoke up after a few seconds of silence. His voice now sounded more upbeat. "I love how big you're smiling in it. You looked so beautiful that night, even while you were drunk and everything. You never told me you had this picture."

"I felt kind of silly calling them to ask for it. I was going to surprise you with your own copy when you came to New York," I confessed, remembering what we both looked like in the picture. We both had huge grins on our faces and I was holding onto a big bouquet with one hand while my other hand was wrapped around Harry. 

"I love the picture. I think it captured that night perfectly."

"It did. And that night was perfect. Best night of my life," I said before I let out a yawn. I set my phone on the nightstand and turned on the speaker phone. 

"So... what's the plan now? Do you want me to come back there or are you coming back here...?"

"Let's get some sleep first. This day's been way too long," I answered him, feeling my eyes start to close. "I'll fly back tomorrow. Wait for me to come home."


	38. Rings

**Taylor's POV**

It was quiet for a while on the phone while I was laying on Harry's bed, under the covers. I had said goodnight to Harry only about a half hour ago, but as exhausted as I was, I really couldn't get myself to fall asleep. Not only could I hear an occasional moan and scream coming from Trey's room, I was really just anxious about getting back to New York.

We each had some important news to give to each other. I was dying of curiosity to find out what it was that he needed to tell me in person. Something so big that he had to travel to New York to see me. I wondered if maybe he also found out about the texts coming from Rachel instead of me. Or it could be about something else entirely. Either way, I was determined to see Harry and Harry was determined to see me. It's clear that this relationship is nowhere near over. 

Another few silent minutes passed with me just staring up at the ceiling until I heard a deep sigh coming from the other end of the phone and I smiled to myself. I reached my hand to pick my phone up from the nightstand and lay it on the pillow where I imagine Harry's head would go if he were here. 

"Harry, are you still awake?" 

"Yeah... you can't sleep either?"

"I'm trying, I just... can't wait to see you." 

"Me too..." Harry breathed out, his voice low and rough. "Well, while we're both still up, you know what we never got a chance to do yet?"

"Hmm?" I ask curiously. I can almost tell from the sound of his voice where he was going with this. 

"We haven't had phone sex yet... what with the failed attempt to keep ourselves from having sex," he responded with a quiet chuckle. 

My entire body shifted in anticipation as I heard Harry's suggestion and I instantly felt a rush of excitement going through my veins. 

"I like this idea, Mr. Styles," I answered him, licking my lips as I thought about how we'd go about this. I've had plenty of sex in my life, but never have I had to have sex over the phone. "Let me take the lead?"

"Mm, please," he agreed with a sigh while my hand started to slide under my shirt. 

"I'd kiss your chest first, soft little kisses on your pecs while my hand reaches for your cock," I started, smiling to myself. I was very eager to get him off. "I'd lick your nipples just as my hand starts to pump up and down on you... slowly at first. Very slow..." 

I couldn't hear much coming from the other line other than a few quiet moans. In my head, I could picture what Harry was doing to himself at the moment in my bed. 

"Then I'd lick you all the way from the little hairs on your happy trail..." I said, speaking as slowly as I could, trying to keep my voice sexy and soft at the same time. "...down to the head." 

"F-fuck," was all I could hear escape from Harry's lips. 

I began to let my own hands roam my body, bringing my fingers down to my clit as I started to rub while I listened to Harry's heavy breathing.

"I'd have both my hands and my mouth on you, licking... sucking..." I continued as I gasped in a breath while I touched myself.

"Taylor, fuck," Harry moaned again into the phone as I started to pant breathlessly. "I want to hear you say my name, baby."

I shut my eyes and imagined Harry's fingers doing to me what I was doing to me. I kept going rather intensely until I felt my body shaking. "H-Harry," I whimpered as I let my orgasm take over me.

"God, Taylor," I heard Harry whisper as I pictured his lips curve into a smile. 

....

**Harry's POV**

It was morning when I woke up naked in Taylor's bed and I looked out the windows of her room as the sun beamed in. I laid in bed just remembering our conversation only a few hours ago. I couldn't help but smile as I thought about how easy it was to get off just by hearing her voice describing what she'd do to me. It also helped that I imagined her touching herself at the same time that I was. 

I grabbed my phone that was lying beside me and put it close to my ear, barely able to hear Taylor's quiet breathing. The time difference meant that she'd still be asleep a few more hours than me, so I had lots of time to kill while she slept and took her flight back to New York.

I wasn't sure exactly what I'd get to do before she got back home. I took another long look at the picture of us that was taken at our wedding at the chapel. My attention was brought over to the rings on our fingers, the cheap metal rings that we actually paid for at the chapel. I still had mine on my finger, while Taylor had hers hanging off her necklace. 

I started to look up the nearest jewelry stores and decided that I wanted to get our rings replaced with real rings that wouldn't rust and turn our fingers green. 

After I got showered and dressed, I grabbed Taylor's spare keys to her apartment and headed out of the building. I followed the directions on my phone to find the jewelry store that I thought would have the best selection. 

"Good morning, sir," the man dressed in a finely tailored suit on the other side of the ring counter addressed me while my eyes searched the display of gold and silver wedding rings. "May I assist you?"

"I'm, uh, looking for a wedding ring. Well, two wedding rings. One for me and one for my wife," I answered him, keeping my eyes focused on the selection of rings. I was about to look away when I came upon a set that caught my eye. The bands were silver with little diamonds on the woman's ring. "May I see those?"

The man behind the counter nodded his head and reached into the display to grab the rings. "These are sterling silver bands. The smaller ring is encrusted with exquisite princess cut diamonds."

I examined the rings once he placed them in my hands and felt the grooves against my fingers. 

"May I ask what the engagement ring looks like? Perhaps I can find you wedding bands similar to the engagement ring," he asked as I saw him pull out a few more rings for me to look at. 

My head jerked up when he asked about an engagement ring. I almost let out a laugh, assuming how rare it was that someone would come into his jewelry store looking for wedding rings for an unplanned Vegas wedding. Then, I felt a little embarrassed thinking about how to explain to him that I was looking for wedding rings when I hadn't even given the bride a proper engagement ring.

"Actually, there's no engagement ring," I answered him sheepishly, keeping my eyes focused back on the wedding bands in my hand. He nodded his head and shrugged as he continued to look down at his ring in the display case.

"Would you then care to look at some?" 

I brought my attention back to him. I never really thought about having to get Taylor an engagement ring since it just so happened that we were already legally married. Then I thought about how important it was to be able to give an engagement ring to someone when the timing was right. Generally, the man would decided to propose and look for a ring. He'd get down on one knee and propose. Then came the wedding and marriage. 

In a normal relationship, getting an engagement ring this far along a relationship would be insane. But since we were already married, it didn't sound so absurd. Maybe just because we're married already doesn't mean that Taylor doesn't deserve to have an engagement ring.

"Yes, please, I'd love to take a look," I replied with a nod of my head as I was being led to another glass display.


	39. Welcome Home

**Taylor's POV**

In the span of a few days, I've flown on a plane five separate times, including the flight I just took from Las Vegas. I was thankful for a full night's sleep at Harry's apartment before I got on this flight instead of hopping on a plane right away. I even had a chance to sleep in a bit, which will either help or hinder my screwed up jet lag. 

I told Harry I'd meet him at my apartment when I got to New York. After our conversation and impromptu phone sex last night, all I could think about was our future together. If he turns out to be the father of this baby, I decided we'd have to live in Las Vegas. I thought about how I was going to stay at my job that way, wondering if I could still represent my clients from Las Vegas. It probably wasn't going to be possible, but I'd have time to figure something out. 

Even if we had stay being long distance, we'd find a way to work it out. We managed to somehow get closer to each other by being long distance, so being physically apart from each other wouldn't be the worst thing. It'd be extremely difficult at times, but I decided it'd be a sacrifice I'm willing to give. From everything I've learned about relationships and marriage from my parents, my sister, and television, sacrifices are part of marriage. 

I was starting to get more and more nervous once I got closer to my apartment. By the time I finally reached the door to my apartment, I paused momentarily. As much as I thought I had prepared myself for this on the flight, I still had to take a second to calm myself down and remind myself how important this would be. 

As I unlocked the door with my key, I entered my apartment and found the lights dimmed. In the dining room, the table was set up nicely with a white linen tablecloth, white napkins, silverware, and rose petals. There were two long stemmed candles on the table next to a beautiful floral centerpiece. 

"Ahem," I heard him behind me and quickly, I turned around to see him. Harry was standing in front of me dressed handsomely all in black with his curly hair neatly tousled. I took in the sight of him and could practically feel the butterflies in my stomach.

"Hi," I greeted him simply as I leaned in to wrap my arms around him. I rested my head on his shoulder and kissed his neck. 

"Welcome home," he mumbled as he squeezed me tightly.

It took a few extra seconds to release Harry from my grips, but once I let go, I took a step back to get another look at him.

"You look very handsome today," I commented as I reached for his collar to straighten it out. "I mean, you always look handsome, but more so with these clothes on."

"Thank you," he responded with a light chuckle as his eyes glanced down at his feet for a second before he looked back up at me. "You're looking very beautiful yourself."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "I just spent six hours on a plane, I probably look gross." 

"I disagree. You're always beautiful to me."

My head tilted slightly as I looked back at Harry. I couldn't help but lean in to kiss him on the lips for the first time in what seemed like forever. His lips were soft and gentle as they returned my kiss. I pulled away only a few centimeters so our eyes could meet.

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too," Harry sighed, placing a kiss on my cheek. He stepped away from me and walked towards the dinner table. He pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit down. 

"Did you make dinner?" I asked as I studied the table settings he had set up. 

"I did," he nodded his head. "I figured you'd be hungry after a long flight."

"I actually am starving," I responded, smiling at him. 

"I'll be right out with the food," he said just before walking into the kitchen. A few minutes passed while I heard Harry moving things around in the kitchen. I was anticipating our conversation during dinner and whether or not we'd bring up what we said we'd tell each other once we were reunited.

Harry walked back into the dining room with two plates in his hands. He placed both dishes on the table and sat down across from me. The expression on his face was cheerful. His eyes glowing and his smile was from ear to ear. I had to come to the conclusion that Harry had some very good news for me, but I didn't want to get ahead of myself.

He started to pour a glass of red wine for me and I looked at the dinner he had cooked, spaghetti and meatballs. 

"You're probably dying to find out what I have to tell you," he started to say as he started to twist his fork into his plate to get a bite of spaghetti. "I know because I've been dying to find out what you have to tell me. Let's eat first and then we'll talk." 

"Okay," I answered him with a nod of my head. It was probably better that we wait until after we ate before getting into the subject of our relationship. "This looks delicious, by the way."

We continued on with dinner, making small talk along the way about my flight and how Trey was when I left the apartment. I informed him that he wasn't alone and that his girlfriend was staying with him. Harry clarified that Cherry was more of a friend with benefits, but I argued what I saw from the night before that there probably was more than that between them. 

"That was amazing," I complimented his cooking as I had finished off my entire plate. I took the last sip of wine from my glass and wiped my mouth with a napkin. 

"Thank you, baby," he said with his lips curving into a small smile. 

I nervously bit at my bottom lip as I thought about where to begin with talking about the two of us and Rachel and the baby. 

"C'mon," Harry said as he stood up and held out his hand. I gave him my hand to latch onto and stood up from my seat. Harry led me to the balcony of my apartment and leaned against the railing as he stared into the distance for a moment. 

"Let me start first," I began, walking towards him. I pressed my hip against the railing and looked towards Harry, waiting for him to turn to me. Once we made eye contact, I reached for his hand. 

"Alright," he responded quickly, holding onto my hand. 

"I want you to know that I never wanted to break up with you. I walked out of your room so that I could clear my head and think about what we would do about this baby," I paused for a second to take a deep breath. The look on Harry's face looked a bit relieved and it made my nerves ease up. "Harry, I never texted you that night. Those texts you got from me, they were sent by someone else. And I think that someone else was Rachel."

"I know," Harry said quickly once I finished. I was a bit surprised to find out he was already aware, which meant that something had to have happened with Rachel for him to come to the conclusion. "Rachel admitted to it." 

My nerves came back suddenly, hearing him say her name made me feel more anxious than I expected. 

"What did she say? Why did she do that?"

"She was desperate after finding out about you and I being married. At least that's what she said. When I left to go find you, she found your phone in my room and sent me those texts." 

I nodded my head, staying quiet, as I took in all the information he was giving me. Her intentions were making sense now, though I felt sick that she had to go to such lengths to break us up. 

While I didn't trust Rachel very much just from our little interaction in Harry's room, this just made me lose trust in her completely. I was worried to think that if Harry would have to raise a baby with her, that we'd be stuck with someone that I couldn't even be comfortable with.

"And the baby?" I blurted out all of a sudden. I almost regretted bringing the topic up so quickly but I couldn't wait any longer. I had to know what happened. 

"We went to the doctor yesterday morning," Harry began, looking down at our connected hands. I didn't realize just how much my hands were shaking as he squeezed them gently. "Taylor, I'm not the baby's father. I'm absolutely sure I'm not the father."

His eyes pored into mine, studying my expression. His mouth were slightly smiling as he waited for me to react. 

Relief swept right over me when the words he said finally registered in my brain. 

"Really?" I asked, my voice quiet and hopeful. Harry only responded with a nod and I could tell he was completely serious. I pulled him into a tight hug, finally feeling much better about everything. I was preparing for the worst and this was definitely the best news I could have gotten. 

"How are you so sure?"

"Rachel lied. She said she's three months along but her doctor ruined it for her," he answered, chuckling. "You should have seen her face when her doctor told me she was only two months pregnant. If looks could kill, her doctor would be dead."

I held onto his arms and let out a laugh from what he had just said. From everything I had experienced with Rachel, especially her texting Harry from my phone, it shouldn't be a surprise that she had lied about Harry being the father. 

"So that's why you came here for me?"

"Yes, I wanted you to hear it from me," he nodded in response. He leaned in to kiss my forehead and rested his head against mine. "And you went to Vegas to tell me about the fake texts?"

"Well, yes, but also... I went to Vegas to make sure you knew that I would support you no matter what. If you did turn out to be the father, I'd stand by you," I confessed. 

Harry took a step back to look at me, his face beaming. "I love you."

I leaned in to quickly place a kiss on his lips and pulled back to look into his eyes again. "I love you," I said to him as I nuzzled against him. We were silent for a while as we basked in each other's presence. 

"I have another surprise for you, by the way," Harry spoke up, his voice quiet as I felt his breath against my ear. 

Before I had a chance to say anything, Harry stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. I glanced back and forth between him and the box wondering what he could have possibly gotten me. 

"What is it?" I asked, my eyes gazing at the box.

"Open it," Harry grinned.


	40. Promise

Harry took my hand in his and held my palm up. He placed the small box in my palms and I looked back into his eyes, searching for an explanation. 

"What's the occasion? My birthday is in December and it's not even our anniversary or anything, we've only been together for like a few wee-"

"Baby, please... just open it," Harry chuckled as his smile remained on his face. 

I let out a deep breath and shook my head at him. I opened up the box and inside was a stunning silver banded ring with a princess cut diamond surrounded by several smaller diamonds. I was so focused on staring at the ring that I didn't even notice that Harry had gotten down on one knee right in front of me. 

"Harry..." I barely managed to get out. I shook my head at him, unable to figure out what he was trying to do. "I don't understand. You're proposing? We're already married?"

Harry gazed back at me patiently with his forest green eyes as he waited for me to stop yammering.

"Taylor," he finally said after a few seconds of us just staring at each other. "Our relationship has been unlike any other I've ever come across. When I woke up to find out that we got married, after the initial shock, do you know what was going through my head? I felt like the luckiest guy on the planet. There I was, waking up to such an incredibly beautiful, strong, outspoken and smart woman. And I knew. You're it for me. Every day since then, I've been so thankful for that drunken wedding." 

We both let out a laugh as Harry stood back up and held both my hands in his with the jewelry box holding the ring in between my palms. I felt my heart beating faster as he continued to speak and I was unable to do anything but listen to every word he was saying.

"I want to give you this ring because I realized we've skipped over some important parts of a normal relationship. Even though we're already legally married, I want you to have this moment. I want you to get your proposal and I want you to have a wedding where your family and friends are in attendance," he paused momentarily as he took the ring out of the box. "I don't know what our future holds. All I know is that I love you. Every day that I've gotten to know you, I've fallen more and more in love with you."

As I listened to Harry's speech to me, I started to feel my eyes water. A few single tears ran down my cheek, just as Harry's started to do the same thing. I reached my hand out to wipe the tears from his cheek and smiled at him to let him finish.

"Taylor, will you marry me... again?" 

I stood there in awe of everything he had just told me. I had to take a moment just to soak it all in because I was amazed at just how thoughtful this surprise was. 

"You've been the most incredible person I've ever met, Harry. I think I'm the lucky one because if it weren't for you, I would never know what it's like to really, truly be in love. I know I was hesitant there for a while and I held myself back from admitting it to myself, let alone to you. I just found it so hard to believe that anyone could actually be in love and love someone so quickly. But you made it so easy to love you that I couldn't control it. I fell in love with you so easily."

I leaned into him and pressed my lips against his lips, letting go of his hands so that I could wrap them around the back of his neck. Harry savagely returned my kiss with his tongue finding its way into my mouth, gently caressing my tongue. After a moment of exchanging our passionate kiss, Harry pulled away and started to breathe heavily against my lips. 

"I take it that's a yes?" Harry smiled at me playfully, his eyes gazing into mine.

My lips formed into a grin as I leaned my forehead against his. "You know, I think I might have to think about it," I said jokingly.

"Don't tease me like that," Harry shook his head.

"Yes, of course, I will marry you again. I'll marry you every day that we're together if I have to." 

Harry's eyes lit up as he took hold of my left hand and held onto my bare ring finger. I felt the cold touch of the ring he had on his left ring finger, the wedding ring that we got during our wedding. I was wearing my ring, as well, except I had it on my necklace. As he placed the engagement ring on my finger, I placed my other hand onto the necklace I was wearing and held onto my wedding ring. 

When I finally saw the ring on my finger, I held my hand up to see it better in the light shining from inside the apartment. I continued to stare at the ring as the light reflected off of it, mesmerized by the beauty of such a significant piece of jewelry.

"It's beautiful, Harry," I said as I took one last look at the ring so that I could look into Harry's eyes. "Thank you, baby."

"You deserve it. You deserve to have everything and I'm going to do my best to give you everything."

I wrapped my arms around him and dug my face into his shoulder. I took in his familiar scent of his aftershave that I've grown to love. 

"I only want you," I replied to him just as I pulled away. I took hold of one of his hands and tugged on him to get him to follow me. 

"Where are we going?" Harry asked curiously as I continued to lead him through the apartment. 

"The bedroom."

I didn't even bother waiting until we reached the bed before I started taking my top off. I hurried over to Harry and kissed his lips forcefully, letting my hands work on the buttons of his shirt. I could feel his hands against my lower back, slowly lowering further down until they were pressed against my ass. I opened up Harry's shirt and pulled it off him. I put my hands against his naked chest and gently pushed him down on the bed, releasing his lips from mine.

"Tell me what you want me to do, Mrs. Styles," Harry said in between ragged breaths. 

I smirked at him and started taking off my jeans. I shimmied out of them quickly and stood in front of Harry with just my bra and panties. I took off both pieces of underwear before I reached down to Harry's groin to feel his erection. Harry licked his lips and placed the palms of his hands on my butt cheeks again to pull me closer to him. I unbuttoned his pants and Harry wriggled his pants and boxers off of his legs. 

"Fuck me, Mr. Styles," I whispered into his ear. I ran my hands through his hair and he pulled me in to kiss me again. He used his hands to pick me up so I could sit on his lap. We continued to kiss, massaging each other's tongues, as I softly bit at his lower lip. I felt Harry's hand reach between my thighs and I felt my breath hitch while he started to stroke against me. 

I moaned against Harry's lips, feeling my stomach clench tightly. I brought my lips further down his chin and onto his neck while Harry picked me up lightly, letting me slowly sink into his erection. 

"God," I whimpered out as I started riding Harry, grabbing hold of his shoulders to control my speed. Harry buried his face into my chest as I continued to move up and down on him. The friction between us became more and more intense by the second. Meanwhile, Harry's tongue managed to caress my nipples which helped take me completely over the edge. I felt my orgasm take over my entire body as I continued to move in and out of Harry. 

"T-Taylor," Harry said in low shallow breaths. "Fuck, babe" he finally exclaimed and I could feel him come into me. 

.....

After cleaning ourselves off, we ended up naked in bed, completely entangled in each other. The only thing I had on was the engagement ring that Harry gave me. I couldn't stop staring at the piece of jewelry I had on my finger and my lips couldn't form into anything other than a smile. 

"I was hoping you'd like it," Harry mumbled softly against my shoulder as he watched me admiring it. 

"Like it? Baby, I love it," I said to him softly, leaning in to kiss his the dimple on his cheek. "It wasn't too expensive was it? Because you really didn't have to spend so much on an engagement ring for me..." 

"No, it was worth every penny. I promise you." 

"I love you, Harry."

"I can never get tired of hearing that coming from you," he grinned at me and kissed my cheek. "I love you, Taylor."

I let out a deep sigh as I reached for Harry's hand to lace it with mine. 

"So we're going to have a wedding? Like a real wedding with groomsmen and a bridal party and my parents and your parents and everyone we know will be there to see us walk down the aisle..."

"Yes, love. A real wedding," he answered with a chuckle. "But this time we'll have time to plan it. Let's not rush into anything."

I laughed at his last comment and nodded my head. I had no idea where to begin with planning a wedding. I didn't have any idea what I wanted the dress to look like or what flowers I wanted for a centerpiece. None of these thoughts ever came into my head until now. 

Although this wedding would mostly be for show, it really meant a lot to me that Harry wanted to do it in the first place. And from the way he proposed to me, I could tell that it meant a lot to him to. Our marriage was still a secret to many of the people in our lives. There were only a few people, such as our best friends, who knew that we had gotten married and I plan on keeping it that way. Now with a wedding, everyone will be able to celebrate our relationship with us without them knowing about our secret Vegas wedding.

Nothing about me was prepared to fall in love, but somehow, Harry managed to strip away the layers of me that was completely against the prospect of being in love. Despite the way that we found each other, it proved to me that how long you've known someone or how you meet someone doesn't matter when you know you've found the right person. Everything just clicks for you. That's what happened when I fell in love with Harry. 

**The End**


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